The Play's the Thing
by AgoodWITCH
Summary: Edward & Bella are BFA's in an acting program about to start work on their new show when they get the shock of their careers, they're cast in roles that are the opposite sex. But through all the drama surrounding the show Edward & Bella find each other.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my love letter to so many things and people: sick, twisted, odd, funny, and honest as it may seem. This fandom gave me a home and a family when I was adrift in so many ways. You've comforted me, listened to me, and championed me over the past two years and for that, you deserve eternal thanks.

To A Cullen Wannabe and Mizzdee, my betas and dear friends, you make my words better. To Tkegl and burntcore, my pre-readers, you ask the questions that push me to think harder. To all the people I WC with, for telling my words have beauty and helping me see that beauty, while inspiring me to be better than I am. To everyone on twitter, thank you for the distractions. To my readers and reviews, for sticking with me through long update waits and crazy plots, you're the best this fandom has.

To KitsuShel, Laurnorder, I Punch Werewolves 4 Fun, Barburella, bert1987, and Dallas, thank you for making my first twi-meet up so wonderful…1000 things could have gone wrong, but everything went right!

This will go up all weekend, a chapter a day, until my 2nd fanfiction anniversary, on Monday, July 4th. Hope you enjoy!

Things I don't own: Twilight, which is the work of Stephenie Meyer, Red Light Winter, by Adam Rapp, and the brilliant, aneurysm-causing kiss between Rob and Taylor that just fucking haunted my psyche until it found its home. The bastardization of these things is all me. No infringement is intended, I'm just taking two works of fiction that I love and blending them.

**The Play's the Thing**

**Chapter 1**

I'm secure in my sexuality.

It doesn't matter how many times I wear tights, or how good I am at applying makeup, I know that I will always worship at the temple of T&A.

But that didn't stop me from staring at the cast list like I was fucking simple.

I'm a third year Bachelor of Fine Arts acting student and nothing has ever given me this much pause in my theatrical career. The small sheet of paper read:

Red Light Winter

Matt…..Bella Swan  
>Davis…...….Jacob Black<br>Christina…...Edward Cullen

This had to be a mistake; they switched it up. I had auditioned for Matt and Bella for Christina. I should know, because when we filled out our form before the department-wide audition for this semester, noting the roles we were most interested it, I was surprised that she went for this show. Bella was an actress destined to do Shakespeare and classic plays, tasteful things, but I guess she was trying to show her edge before going out into the world. But still, this was a mistake.

"It's not a mistake," Bella said, obviously noticing my dumbfounded expression.

"You can't be serious?" I turned to look at her, hoping to see the tell-tale blush that would let me know she was lying, it wasn't there.

"I just came from Aro's office, he said that Adam Rapp pushed at what people would accept with this work and he wanted to push the conventions of casting with this. Two-thirds of the cast is in drag and there's a heterosexual rape scene which is turned homosexual because the female character is being played by a man."

"Does he seriously think the department is going to go for it?" I had a hard time seeing it being allowed.

"You know Eleazar, he's been trying to get rid of Aro since we were both auditioning for the program freshman year. If this crashes and burns, it's his ticket out, if it somehow doesn't then the school looks edgy and groundbreaking."

"You catch this shit?" Jake called from down the hall obviously annoyed too.

"I don't know why you're complaining, you're only a second year, you have three more semesters to build on after this, Bella and I graduate in June, we have one more show after this to get something good in before we try to make it out there."

"Hey, guys. Did you ever stop to think that we could really do something out of the box here? How often do you think we'll get the chance to do this again? And Angela Weber is our stage manager. If anyone can tap dance around Aro and fight for us, it's Ang. She's a fucking ninja!" Bella reassured us both and I had to give it to her, Ang was fucking awesome.

Maybe this wouldn't suck?

Still pissed off about the casting, Bella and I headed off to stage fighting class, hoping to blow off some steam. We'd known we were in the show simply because it was the only cast list that wasn't up and we weren't in the other productions, but the curve ball was really eating away at me, especially because we were told to look at the cast list today before Monday's first rehearsal.

It also didn't help that after class, Mike Newton decided he should try and punk me out. "Hey Cullen, when's your dress fitting? We have to make sure they tart you up real nice for your working girl debut."

Tyler laughed as he carried on. "Maybe they'll make Bella use the men's showers? Then we can sneak a peek at that tight little-"

His sentence was cut off by my forearm in his throat, "You shut your fucking mouth." I seethed at him, but my glare caught their entire punk-ass group. "You want to tease me, whatever; I'm a big enough man to play the role I was cast in and not whine like a bitch. But if I ever hear you say another word about Bella, in private, or to her face, and I will break the arm you use to jerk off with."

I released him and turned to see Bella and some of the other girls standing by the exit to the women's locker room. I pushed past them all and went to the tunnel, knowing I needed to talk to Laurent about my scene shop hours, because there was no way I was wearing a dress and working in the costume shop this semester.

The comments they made about Bella festered in my mind. I knew why they went there; Bella was the ungettable get. Theater departments were incestuous by nature. You have a bunch of people in their late teens to mid-thirties spending unhealthy amounts of time together, seeing far too much of each other's bodies for any number of reasons, and partying for any reason under the sun. We're artsy, lines get blurred, but somehow, Bella had never hooked up once in our two years in the program. She'd been dating someone our freshman year, but when we auditioned for the BFA program that March and she got in, things got rocky. Then they cast us both in one of the productions they were doing over the summer, our first official show as BFA's, and it was a two person show. That show was the first time I ever kissed Bella. It was a stage kiss, but I would have minded if it had been more. When we came back as first-year BFA's that Fall, she was single, and stayed that way ever since.

Our BFA class was me, Jasper, Mike Newton, Tyler Crowley, Ben Cheney, Sam Uley, Bella, Jessica Stanley, Lauren Mallory, Tanya and Kate Denali, and Leah Clearwater. We were a tight group, when the guys weren't being douches and the girls weren't being catty, but we could have done a lot worse.

Jake lucked out with his class and I'm just glad that we'll be gone next year, because I'm not sure I could handle the next group of snots that come through this process. Angeles University breeds divas, it's the way they coddle us and look down at the technical students. It gives some of the actors a superiority complex that will get them fired in the real world. I should know, I've worked professionally before and I was twelve the first time I saw a diva be thrown out of a production for acting like Julia Roberts when they were anything but.

But I digress, I'm also late for my chat Laurent.

I run to the scene shop, which is a madhouse as they work to complete the mainstage show's set so they can begin on ours. Laurent is nowhere to be seen, so I go out onto the loading dock, where I'm sure he's holding a 'meeting.'

"McCarty, we're going to have to talk about this, I'm not sure it's going to work, but that's something that can be discussed later. Just don't draw attention to it when you present at the rehearsal, we'll mock it up this weekend and hopefully you will have an answer before Monday. Last thing I need is that prick to get a hold of the idea like a stray dog with a bone." Laurent looked up from the plans and nodded at me.

"I need an assignment."

"Leave it to the actors to wait until the last minute to come to me," Laurent said with a roll of his eyes.

"I was supposed to be deck crew on the show closing this weekend, but they decided to have the actors move the sets, so I got cut."

Laurent pulled a cigarette from under one of his dreads and lit it up. "That was two weeks ago, Edward, but you only decided to come to me today. My prop closets are a disgrace. They're unorganized, filthy and there's no catalogue to them. I have no clue what's in some of those rooms. You and Swan can go through them all."

"Until the seventy hours are complete?" I asked, because one technical credit was seventy hours of work for a respective shop.

"No, until the jobs done. If you go over, you can bank them for next semester. Bella already has everything you'll need for down there, she mentioned starting on Monday, so get together with her and figure it out. Irina will be keeping tabs on you so we know you aren't just sitting around down there."

"Thanks Laurent," I said and went inside before he could give me an assignment that would suck even more. At least this one meant I could hang out with Bella.

With my classes done for the afternoon, I texted Bella to see is she wanted to get together and run lines, seeing as we had to learn each other's now.

**Wanna run lines? Jasper will be at Alice's so we can concentrate without them trying to swallow each other's heads. –E**

My phone chimed before I could even pocket it.

**Sure, do you want pizza or chinese? –B**

**Pizza**

With the final word sent, I went to the theater office to pick up my pre-rehearsal packet. I was just about to leave when Bella walked in with Angela.

"Ladies," I smiled at them, "we're about to run lines, but if you'd like to join us, Angela, you're more than welcome to."

"No thanks, I have to build my production book and find an AA meeting for Tuesday night." Angela winked and then rushed off, leaving Bella and I alone.

"Ready to start this?" She asked as we walked to the elevator.

"Definitely."

We got on the bus and rode to my apartment where we ordered pizza and started running lines. It was a typical night, one we'd shared 100 times before, but I couldn't help shake the feeling that things were different. Maybe it was the shit storm we were walking into on Monday, or maybe it was something else. All I know is that I was glad Bella was going to be the person standing opposite me, because I'd need a partner who could hold their own.

When the moment of truth came, Bella and I had the same fight as always. She told me she'd be fine going home, while I argued she should just crash here. It made it easier and I wouldn't spend the next hour freaking out about her on the ferry.

Eventually she gave in and borrowed some of Alice's clothes and curled up in my bed while I went into Jasper's room. It was an unspoken rule that we only shared a bed during cast parties, a tradition that started after someone groped Alice's ass in her sleep at our first party, since then we were paired up, unless someone was hooking up.

Hell, the buddy system worked when we were five, and it had definitely made a comeback.

I woke up the next morning and Bella was gone, a note on the fridge. This was not something that was odd either, but I had hoped that she wouldn't have left before I woke up.

The weekend passed quickly and soon I was sitting in the third year acting class. Bella smiled at me as we broke into our scene pairings and the day began. There wasn't much that happened during the day, but that was mainly because I was staring down the barrel of this first rehearsal.

I grabbed a bite to eat before finally heading back to the theater building for rehearsal.

I walked into the rehearsal room to see Bella stretching off to the side. Angela had the table set up along one of the long walls with plenty of chairs around them. There were props on the shelves for easy use during class and a few old set pieces stored there. Angela's papers were stacked neatly as Eric Yorkie, one of the other second-year actors, walked in and sat next to her.

"So, Angela, what am I doing?"

Ang rolled her eyes and handed him a copy of the script. "For tonight, you watch me. In a while some of this will be your job, but for now you just learn. Oh, and you better be on time tomorrow."

Yorkie looked at her and then down at his watch. "But I'm ten minutes early."

"Crew is the first to arrive," she explained. "See how Bella's stretching over there, if she's going to be here fifteen minutes early to stretch, you have to be here early enough to sweep up the floor. Rehearsal starts at 6:30, you are to be here no later than 6:00. And come ready to work, don't show up with your dinner and expect to hang out until rehearsal starts. You're not an actor in this room, Eric, you're my Assistant Stage Manager. Your grade depends on my evaluation."

Part of me wanted to add 'bitch' after her last comment, but I knew better.

Jake showed up a few minutes later and then everyone else filed in. The designers, the head techs and the various faculty that made their appearances at first rehearsals. Carmen, the head of the BFA along with Eleazar, who headed the department, Laurent was there as the technical director and Charlotte, the head of the costume shop. Peter, the head of electrics was the lighting designer for our show so he was there on double duty. Emmett was there with his model and I was happy to see the exchange between him and Laurent, which meant whatever near-train wreck had been avoided without Aro knowing.

Now that the room was filled, Aro made his grand entrance and welcomed everyone to the beginning of what was bound to be an amazing experience that would elevate us all and be the talk of Seattle. I just hoped it wasn't for the wrong reasons.

The next part of the rehearsal was the presentations. Emmett McCarty gave his presentation on the set, showing how they were going to make the set walls double sided and then they'd be set up on a pipe so they could be spun around for the second Act. It was a cool design and only the wall with the door would be stationary, which would also have the coat hooks that Bella would be using for the opening scene. As soon as I remembered that particular moment I got pissed at Aro again.

Within her first ninety seconds onstage, Bella would try to hang herself with her belt from the coat hooks, only to have it pull from the wall. I knew it well because I'd been preparing myself for it, but the thought of Bella doing it had me worried. It was around that point that Alice mentioned her design for the dress and I looked up to see that she was halfway through her presentation.

"So the original costumes for Matt and Christina are going to stay similar, but there will be certain alterations that need to be made, as well some additional purchases that we hadn't originally anticipated."

"But the design esthetic won't change, correct?" Aro asked, his tone was especially annoying because it was his fault that things had to change.

"The only major change will be to the color of Christina's dress, it will still be dark, but I have to see what will work with Edward's skin tone and what type of fabric will be the most cost effective. I'm also going to have to find heels that will fit Edward, probably more than one pair since he'll need to learn how to walk in them. As far as the costume for Bella, we'll have to look in the boys department to get something that will be appropriate and the correct size."

"Excellent, I have every faith in you, Ms. Brandon." Aro smiled and then Angela took over.

"Okay, now that we're ready to begin the read through, we'll take a five minute break and then start with Act One. I'll need the actors to hang out for one more moment."

The room emptied until it was only the three of us, Angela and Eric. "You guys have to pick your Representative. Just let me know before the end of tonight."

We looked among ourselves and Bella shrugged. I turned to Jake and he clapped me on the back. "Edward's got it."

"Cool, enjoy your break," she said as she turned back to her binder to make a note.

I ran to the bathroom before the break was over and then went back inside. Most of the people stuck around and we started the read-through, with Angela reading the stage directions. There were a few rough moments, but the worst was when we got to the song and I just stared at Aro until he realized the problem.

"Speak the lyrics for now until you write the melody."

"I have to write the music for a song I didn't even know I'd have to sing last week?" I was annoyed that this hadn't come up until right now.

"You're a talented boy, you'll figure out something. Continue," he said dismissively.

We finished the first Act and then took another break before finishing the play. When rehearsal was over, Aro left, followed quickly by everyone but the students working on the show.

"So, when do we start drinking?" Emmett asked, looking seriously at all of us.

"Tomorrow night at The Ballet Studio," Angela answered as she finished cleaning up the room.

"That's a chick bar," Eric whined.

"It's cheap and tons of college students go there. You can always stay home if you don't want to come out with us," Emmett remarked, putting his arm around Angela.

There was a definite divide between the actors and techies, but I'd managed to show them the appreciation they deserved so we didn't have the awkwardness that some of the others actors did. Bella and Jake were both living with techies, so it made it easier for them. The school didn't have dorms so the theater department helped its fine arts students find roommates in various university-approved apartments around the city.

It was one of the good things about entering the school through the theater department, it made moving from Chicago easier and Jasper had been the perfect roommate.

"Calm down guys. Eric, stop being a tool," Jake said with a shake of his head.

We gathered our things and headed out for the night, with the feeling of dread starting to seem justified.

The first week passed at a painfully slow rate, the only thing that made up for it was the fact that Bella was practically living with Jasper and I. Emmett loved it because he could go to Bella's place and be with her roommate Rosalie without any problems, which opened up his and Jake's place. Only Jake didn't have a girlfriend, so he played PS3 and drank. He was celebrating his 21st birthday for the whole year it seemed because he was attached to the bottle like an infant.

The best part of the week had to be clearing out the prop rooms with Bella. We'd started with set storage and managed to finish the left section of the under the stage storage. Bella created a tracking sheet and had recorded that first room, which was the easiest because of how big things were and how easy it was to organize. As we found things that were questionable, we called Irina and she either had us trash it, bring it to the shop for repairs, or save it.

We spent Thursday going through what was referred to as the fabric room, which had tons of sheets, blankets, and extra yards of fabric. That day Bella had rubber gloves for us as we sorted through what could be cleaned and what couldn't, taking the things that were salvageable up to the costume shop where some of the shop workers did the laundry for us. It was there that Bella and I had Alice take our measurements, and she broke the news to me.

"Edward, you're going to have to shave your legs."

"I'm sorry, I must have heard you wrong," I laughed. "It sounded like you said I'd have to shave my legs."

"Edward, you're going to be naked onstage with nothing but a thin, skin tight speedo for you to tuck your twig and berries into and some falsies that will be secured to your chest. You have to shave your legs."

"How are you attaching his boobs, is it just going to be double stick tape?" Bella asked, way too interested in my emasculation.

"No, we're actually going to go with latex boobs, so a layer of latex will be attached to the falsies and then it will be painted onto his chest, like they do for movies. The lighting will hide any imperfections so it doesn't have to be perfect." Alice responded, very sure of herself.

"So when are you getting this stuff?" I asked, hoping I could put it off for as long as possible.

"Because of Aro's stunt casting, we're trying to get the production manager to okay a larger budget, right now he's not going to give us the money, so we have to get it from Emmett after he's done doing props. And he already has a small budget on the props side. We'll have to look through it together and see what we can manage."

"Alice, Bella and I are cleaning out the prop storage for our tech credit, we'll talk to Em, get him to give us the list and we'll dig up everything we can so he only has to buy what's absolutely necessary," I said, seeing that she really was worried about this.

"Thank you! Oh my, god, you have no idea what a relief that is. I'll head down with you now so we can all discuss it."

With that, the three of us met with Emmett. He was thrilled to have the help and gave us descriptions of exactly what he wanted. My first move was to call Jasper.

"Hey Jazz, when you buy the beer this week, get Heineken. Yeah, we need the empties for the show. Thanks man."

"Well, we can cross that off the list." Bella smirked and we started breaking down the list to the different rooms.

The list was pretty basic, so hopefully we'd get 90% of it in-house and save enough for Alice to get what we needed. Friday, Bella and I met before classes and headed to the main prop room. In the two hours before our first class we organized the section that had dishes and kitchenware and found the few props we'd need from there.

After our theater history class, we were back in the prop room. This time, we focused on the list, making note of what we took so it would be counted on our sheet, and started looting. Alice texted us that the dirty clothes and purse were both things she could pull from the costume shop, so we grabbed a dishrag and an afghan from the fabric room and moved back to the search.

There were a lot of easy things: toiletries, milk bottle, ketchup bottle, that Bella and I were going to bring from home and use the empties for the show. There was an old laptop and a bag for it down there along with the duffle bags.

Bella grabbed five milk crates full of books for set dressing and I went into the bathroom and "requisitioned" some toilet paper rolls and paper towels. The list was quickly dwindling and Bella headed to her English class while I continued to dig through it. I threw a box of condoms I'd brought from home into the crate now that Bella was gone, so I didn't have to explain why they were nearly expired and not even opened. I didn't need her to know that after the Jessica Stanley fiasco I'd stopped dating in the department and was far too busy to find someone outside of it.

I found two cellphones as well as the house phone with the answering machine for Act Two along with the other electronics. Somehow, we were very close to our prop list being complete and we hadn't spent a dime. I knew I had an expired passport at home, so I'd bring that in tomorrow and give it to Emmett during one of our breaks.

With everything loaded onto the cart, I walked down to the elevator and rode up to the scene shop to present my loot to Emmett. When he walked in, Laurent and Irina were there so I laid everything out for Emmett to look over.

"Dude, this looks awesome! All we need are the cigarettes, rolling paper for the joints, a zippo, the snow globe and pill bottles."

"Let me handle the snow globe and pill bottles," Bella said as she walked in.

"What do you mean?" Laurent looked at her as she threw a brown paper bag at Emmett, who opened it and scoffed.

"Shit, there are a ton of pill bottles and cough syrup bottles in here. What did you do, rob a pharmacy?"

"No, I went in and explained that it was for a show and we didn't have a huge budget because it was a college so the pharmacist filled up the bag. And the snow globe I can get from the guy outside the ferry, he sells them for like $2.00. Which reminds me..."

Bella reached into her pocket and handed Emmett $80. "Bella, where did that come from?" Laurent asked.

"Aro said he wanted us to smoke in rehearsal and I told him the cigarettes were expensive, so he gave that to me and said 'problem solved.'"

"I fucking love you, Bella," Emmett said, a huge smile lighting up his face. He swept her up in his arms and swung her around.

After that, he called Alice and told her that he was buying the cigarettes and paraphernalia and would give her the cash tomorrow.

Rehearsal that night was long, but we were finally starting to do better as we ran our lines, so Aro announced that he would like up to be off book by Wednesday. For Jake, that wasn't a problem, but I knew I'd have a work to get there.

As it was Friday, we met up with some of the actors from the show that just opened on the mainstage and went to Newton's place for the cast party he was throwing.

There was a ton of booze and music, which I had a feeling would hurt me by the end of the night. Bella was dancing with Angela, Alice, and Rosalie when I went to get another beer, so I was surprised to see that she was gone a few minutes later. I looked at Angela and she mouthed 'Jess' before pointing to the door to the apartment.

I went out the door and saw Jessica walking up from the first floor. I stalked over to her and she smiled at me…like I'd go near her again.

"Where's Bella?"

"I don't know, all I did was slip her a condom in case you finally decided to make a move. You've been marking your territory since we broke up."

"Did you say something to her?" I was starting to get pissed that she was messing with my life again.

"Nope, just told her she may need it. I'll let you pull the trigger on that." And with that parting shot, she reentered the party.

I ran down to the first floor, just in case Jessica was lying about having a more involved conversation with Bella, but I couldn't see her anywhere so I decided to head for the roof. After scaling the three flights of stairs, I opened the door to the roof and looked around wildly.

I could hear someone making out behind me so I decided to turn without looking, that is, until I heard her voice.

"Edward?"

I spun around to see Bella pressed into the brick wall while Newton sucked on her neck, his dick grinding into her stomach. I may have snapped a little. I pulled Mike off Bella and slammed him against the wall.

"Did he hurt you?" I asked her, staring at him the entire time.

"No, Edward, I'm sor-"

"If you tell _anyone _about this, I will make you wish you never threw this party."

He nodded and I finally looked over at Bella. She was barely holding in her tears. "Can we go?"

"Sure," I took her hand and we headed downstairs.

We just made the bus when Bella whispered, "Take me home."

"We'll be at my place in fifteen minutes."

"No," she shook her head, "I want to go home, please. I want to sleep in my own bed."

"Okay, when's the last ferry?"

"1:35am." Bella said as she started texting Rosalie.

"We'll make it. Are you sure you're okay?" She looked up at me and the tears had begun to fall again.

"It's just something Jessica said…" She trailed off so I pushed a little.

"What did Jessica say?"

"That you were talking about wanting to bang me," she whispered.

"What? No, Bella I would never do that to you. You're my best friend."

She sniffled again and then whispered, "Thanks."

The fact that Jessica and Mike had double-teamed Bella against me really pissed me off. Before Jessica had gone public with her relationship with Mike during our first year as BFA's, I'd made the mistake of getting drunk and hooking up with her only to have Mike come up and accuse me of breaking them up. Then Jessica dumped him for me and I told her I wasn't interested in someone who could do that, so she was without both of us. That started the vicious cycle of her sleeping with whomever she could. But Bella didn't deserve to get pulled into this because Mike wanted her and she was important to me.

We were silent for most of the ferry ride and I finally got her into the apartment. I pulled off my jeans and sat them on my shoes, getting ready to sleep on the couch when she came out to find me.

"Will you sleep in my room?"

I blinked at her and then nodded, following her into her bedroom. While I hadn't expected her to ask me that, when she climbed into bed and I pulled her to me, I was happy to feel her relax into me as she fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up to breakfast and a smiling Bella. "We should head in; it takes a while on weekends."

I nodded and two hours later we were at the theater. Angela had Eric sweeping and Jake hadn't shown up yet, so the girls walked away to talk, presumably about our disappearance last night. The six hour rehearsal began and when we're on our last break five hours later, Alice was waiting for us.

"I seriously love you guys; we should have enough money to get everything we need shopping tomorrow." She beamed.

"So we're meeting up at 11am, right?" Bella asked, getting her answer from a near giddy Alice.

"Edward, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to tough it out, because you need to get stuff at almost every store we're going to. I promise it'll be worth your time." Alice giggled and then ran away, leaving Bella and I to go and finish our rehearsal.

When rehearsal ended, Bella ran to catch the ferry, so I moved slowly, watching Angela get her things together. I could tell by the looks she'd shooting me all day that she wanted to talk to me, so I helped her put the room back the way we found it and then walked her out of the building.

"What's up, Ang?"

"For a brilliant boy, you're pretty fucking thick." She smiled sweetly, like it would lessen the blow. I just glared at her and she sighed, jerking her head in the direction of the Chinese restaurant across from the school's side gate. After placing our orders, we sat down and I waited for Angela to elaborate, but she didn't.

"Care to explain that comment?"

"I know what happened last night," she stated plainly.

"So you know that Mike's a prick and Jess is a bitch-"

"No, I mean that you almost threw Mike off the roof for kissing Bella and then had the balls to tell her that you'd never sleep with her. You like her, it is glaringly obvious, but the longer you dance around it, the more chance of someone swooping in and taking that amazing girl away from you."

"What are you talking about? I never-" I stopped short, remembering our conversation and what Bella had obviously misunderstood. "What I meant last night was that I'd never just screw her. If I ever made a move on Bella, it would be more than a one night thing…she's worth more than one night."

The lady behind the counter yelled out to get our attention, so I jumped up to get our food and sat back down at the table with her.

"Do you really think Bella would ever go out with me?" I asked as Angela opened up a few packets of duck sauce.

"I think she was upset enough by the ideas put into her head to let Mike paw on her when she tolerates him on her best days. Talk to her, Edward."

"Thanks, Ma," I joked, watching Angela's eyes twinkle when I called her by that nickname. A stage manager fills many roles outside of their job, therapist, mother, negotiator…and she was the best I'd ever worked with.

"If I was your mother, then that means that I'd have gotten a chance with that dreamboat, Carlisle, so I can't complain about that."

I choked on my soda, "Angela, can you not talk about my dad that way."

"I'll just have to take my crack at him when he comes to see the show."

"Oh God," I hadn't told them to not come out for this show, "They're going to come see me have sex with Bella while we're both in drag. Son of a bitch!"

"I won't tell Esme you said that." Angela smirked and then ran up to pay the seven dollars for our meal before I could stop her.

"Why did you do that?" I asked her as we walked to the bus stop.

"Because, I was giving you hell, the least I could do was buy. You'll get me next time?" She smiled as she stuck out her hand to hail a cab.

"Absolutely," I called back as she climbed into car that had just stopped in front of her and headed home.

My bus arrived a few minutes later, and as I got on my mind was reeling from Angela's talk. Was it that obvious to everyone but me? Did Bella know and just not tell Angela? Part of me desperately hoped so, while the other prayed she didn't because how would she feel if she thought I liked her but never made a move. Could I make a move? She was my castmate and best friend. What if she didn't want to be with me? That thought was like a sucker punch to the gut.

I unlocked my front door a little while later, still mulling over all the possibilities and headed upstairs to the apartment. Grabbing my script from my bag, I headed for my bedroom to relax and work on my memorization.

I was trying to get comfortable when I pulled on the offending pillow and noticed it was Bella's. It had never seemed odd that there was a pillow here that was by default hers, because she slept here enough. But as I settled back onto it and was enveloped by her scent, I was dumbfounded. How could there have ever been a doubt?

I loved her.

I was getting ready to give up on running lines for the night when Bella texted me.

**Alice called, we're meeting her at Target, they open at 10am.**

I looked at the message and texted her back.

**Want to grab breakfast first?**

Her response was pretty quick.

**Can't I'm coming from Forks, Charlie dropped a bombshell on me tonight.**

I wish I'd known she was driving out to Forks, I would have gone with her so that she didn't have to make the trip alone.

**Oh yeah? How's Forks' Finest?**

Another moment and another text.

**Engaged, and not too pleased about the show, but then again, he's not a fan of thinking about me and sex in general.**

**What father would be, tell him I said congrats. Night Bella.** I fired back.

**Night Edward, catch you in the AM.**

And with that, I decided to work on my lines some more, Bella's sweet scent helping to keep me focused.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all the love I got for the first chapter. There was one question I got more than once, and if one person asked 10 people may have been confused, so I'm going to explain the Mike/Bella/Jess bit a little. Jess was an attempt at a real relationship for Edward, but to some people in the department, especially with Jess' help, Edward look like he was going for a drunken one night stand. So when Jess approached Bella and told her to be careful about Edward, before she became a notch in his bedpost like she had been, slipping her the condom before she walked off, it messed with Bella's head. She'd been drinking and got upset, cue Mike. He brought her upstairs to "talk" and then started kissing her. Edward came up pretty soon after they started and it would have never gone farther than that. Bella really liked Edward and she'd rather be the girl who loved him but got nowhere, than to be a one-night stand and lose what they had. I hope that cleared it up. Let me know what you think and I'll see you tomorrow evening with the next post!**

Chapter 2

Bella called me the next morning, asking for a pity meal, so I grabbed Burger King for the two of us and took the bus to Target. Bella arrived twenty minutes later and I climbed into her truck, handing over her half of the food and digging in.

"That is one bitch of a drive," she said as she popped a hash brown into her mouth.

"You should have told me you were taking a trip to Mayberry, I would have driven with you."

Bella giggled and her entire face crinkled. "Edward that's sweet, but you're too tall to sleep on our couch, city boy."

"What, no cuddling?"

"In Charlie Swan's house? Yeah, no, he likes you, but I think we'd have to be married a year or two before he'd let us try and share that tiny twin bed."

Fuck, why did she have to say things like that. Now I was having dirty thoughts about her in a white dress. It's like my dick is taking its revenge for not realizing just how hot my cuddle buddy was before today.

We were just finishing our meals when there was a knock on the window. "Come on, they're open!" Alice whined and I couldn't help but laugh, what did she think we were going to miss in the next two minutes.

The main reason we were here was for Bella, as most of her wardrobe was coming from this store, so our first stop was the boys section. Alice started by grabbing some different jeans and such before handing them to me. Her eyes lit up at the racks of t-shirts, and she soon had a selection of them as well. A couple of thermal shirts and a few packs of boxers and boxer briefs and we were in the dressing room.

I wasn't sure if I was here for moral support or what, but when Bella walked out in her first 'outfit' I almost choked.

"So, should Bella wear boxers, or boxer briefs?"

Bella was fucking standing in front of me in a pair of boxer briefs that looked like the pair I was wearing this morning and nothing else from the waist down. That's it. It was official. God hated me. Or he thought I was a funny fucker to torture.

"Boxers, those will show too much and she's going to be wearing underwear and whatever you're getting to simulate her junk, so if it hangs loose there's less of a chance of someone seeing it and thinking it looks weird."

"Nice, now Bella, just throw on the jeans so we can pick a style and get you some corduroys. The shirts will be easier, but we'll also need to get you two sports bras."

"Why?" I asked, instantly wishing I hadn't.

"So I can tape my boobs," Bella answered. "Oh Alice, we have to grab a pack of wife beaters for the sex scene."

Fuck. My. Life.

Bella got her corduroys, jeans, two t-shirts, a sweater, two thermals, a pack of wife beaters, a pack of boxers and two sports bras and threw them in the cart while Alice dragged me over to the underwear to find something sexy.

So screwed.

"Alice, I can't believe I'm asking this, but why aren't we looking for bras?"

She smiled and then brought me a little further into the section. "I'm sorry; I've been to excited to really tell you about this. One of the stores we're going to later will have the underwear necessary to tuck your stuff, and the way we're doing your makeup on your chest is by making a mold of you with your new boobs on. Then we'll literally be pasting them to your chest and then adding the layer of latex so that it can be blended to look like your skin. You'll have a more intense transformation, but it has to hold up when you're naked. Putting a bra on over them isn't necessary; the dress I've designed will be enough to hold you in."

"Thanks for taking the time to explain it," I knew Alice was busting her ass and on a shoestring budget, no less.

"No problem. After today, you'll have some understanding, but when you come for your fitting, everything will start to come together." Alice turned and bounded, a squeak escaped her as she held up a pair of lacy red panties. "You _have_ to try these on."

I grumbled, but took the panties and walked into the dressing room. Leaving my boxer briefs on, I stripped down and then put on the underwear. They were tight as all hell and when Alice came in, she told me to take them off and then asked me to try on one more, these were still tight, but I didn't feel like I was killing my chance at children. I dumped both pair of underwear into the cart and Alice and I looked around, finally finding Bella looking at some clothes. The two of them narrowed down her choices and put them in the top of the shopping cart so they weren't confused with the show things.

Our last stop in Target was the health and beauty section, where I was introduced to a wall of hair removal products. Alice and Bella were talking a mile a minute, but a lot of it was going directly over my head.

"Edward?" Bella had an expectant look on her face, so I knew I missed a question, probably about the wall of shame in front of me.

"Whatever you guys think is best," I answered looking at what Bella was picking up. She threw several packages of Veet and a set of disposable razors into the cart and then started down the other aisles. Today was taking a toll on my masculinity and the worst was still coming.

I met the girls at the register and then we headed back to Bella's truck. Alice loaded up the bags into her car and we drove off to the next store.

Bella had nearly her entire wardrobe now, with the exceptions of items that could be pulled from wardrobe, but the one thing we both needed was shoes, so we trudged off to the next store.

Alice led the way to the women's section and started picking through the slim picking of size twelve shoes. Finding two identical pairs of boots, Alice handed me some stocking socks that were hanging in a box on the wall and I put them on. The boots went all the way up to the middle of my calf and put my leg into a completely different position than I was used to. The heels weren't that tall, but I still felt unstable.

"Edward, when you walk in heels the main thing is to take small steps, and put your heel down before your toe, just don't be too exaggerated in the steps. Try walking around." Alice smiled as I managed to walk without falling on my face and then she pulled out a pair of wedge heels. "These are a little more stable for learning, plus this strap will wrap around your ankle to support you more. These will be the ones you use in rehearsals at first, then we'll have you work with the boots after a while. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt."

I smiled at her while Bella walked over with a simple pair of converse shoes and Alice nodded, bringing the boots over to the checkout while Bella got the other shoes, smiling that they were buy one, get one half off.

As we pulled up to the last store, I instantly knew I was in trouble. Alice opened the barred door that resembled a prison cell more than the entrance to a shop, and we walked in to the brightly lit sex shop. I had expected something dirtier, like you saw in movies, but this was a hip, upscale store, that Alice seemed to know a little too well for my comfort.

She walked us past the shelves of DVD's and through the first set of beaded curtains into what I could only refer to as the horrible room of ridiculously huge and crazily colored fake cocks. I mean seriously, some of these things looked the size of a two year old's arm.

There were two more rooms on the left side and I was afraid of what they might hold, but unfortunately, that's exactly where Alice was dragging us.

The guy at the front counter had avoided us for the most part, but the 6'5" drag queen in here was not going to be as subtle.

"What can I do for you today?" His/her voice was deep enough to betray him, but I wasn't about to point that out.

Alice bounded over to him/her and smiled. "We're from the theater department at Angeles University and we're doing a show where these two are playing roles that are the opposite sex. We need them to be believable naked, as there is a sex scene, but we also can't go too overboard as far as the budget."

A mischievous smile crossed her face and she winked at me. "Oh, isn't that delicious. My name is Jamie and by the time you leave here, we'll have you all set. Where should we begin?"

"Start with Edward," Bella said, barely holding in her laughter.

"Oh yeah, start with Edward," I snipped, but Jamie already had me by the hand and was leading me over to a dressing room with a full-length mirror.

"Okay, so the most important thing you'll need is your falsies. Let me measure you up." Jamie reached around me with a tape measure and got the measurement from around my chest from there he looked at a little chart and pulled out two options. "I think we should stick with a size seven, it is a little smaller and will help it look more natural. Now you're friend said that you were going to be naked, which can be tricky, but if you use the right makeup, you should be okay. It won't look perfect, but if it's quick or dark, you'll be fine. The only thing I will tell you is you're going to have to wax your chest, because the adhesive will pull off the hair anyway."

Alice ran over with a bra in hand. "Here, this is just so you can see how they'll look on you."

"Thanks, Alice."

I took off my shirt and slipped on the bra, still amazed that I was doing this with another guy in the room. I put the falsies into the bra and was surprised by how real they looked. Jamie started talking to me about makeup and that conversation went a little easier, since I'd been doing stage makeup for years. He told me about doing the contouring makeup to enhance my cleavage and gave some tips on how to make my face look less square-shaped and more feminine. I took notes, so I wouldn't forget and soon he was going over the other essential, a gaff.

The undergarment, which was essentially like a pair of thong underwear, except it held and tucked my junk up so you couldn't see it. I grabbed two pair and resolved to washing them myself, because I wasn't about to have to go with the alternative, which was shaving and medical tape. Fucking ouch.

It was about that time that I realized I had everything I needed and Bella and Alice hadn't made a single snide comment. I took the falsies and put them back in the box and sat down the bra as I got dressed, seeing the adhesive Jamie had picked out. All and all, Jamie was pretty cool, I got a lot of tips and everything I needed for the show. That was when Alice came out and grabbed my hand.

"Did you get everything?" she asked bashfully.

"Yup, here you go," I winked, handing her my items, including the bra , which she quickly put away.

"Good, Bella needs some help. Would you mind, she's in the dressing room."

Alice pointed in the direction I needed to go and I walked in to see Bella's back to me, she fidgeted for a moment as I sat on the bench in the corner and she finally turned. There was a distinctive bulge there, it wasn't too big, but you could tell there was something there, which I'm assuming was the point. Then she took off her pants. I don't know what I was expecting, but the clear harness holding a realistic looking penis over Bella's underwear, wasn't it. I was staring pretty fucking blatantly at the woman I'd realized I loved only last night as she stood in front of me, half-naked, with her dick just…there. Was that seriously what we fucking looked like?

"It looks stupid, doesn't it?" Bella asked, a crease taking up residence on her forehead as she reached for the top of the harness to take it off.

"No, it's just…that's your dick in my face. I'm not used to it, but it suits you."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, it looked normal with your jeans on and now it's good. It's positioned a little high, but that can't be helped. At least it's not perfectly straight, because that would look a little odd. That'll work fine for the show." I was still staring at it, which was only interrupted by Bella's laughter.

"Thanks, now can I get a minute to change, I'll meet you outside."

I waited outside the room while Alice walked back, taking the packer and the harness for it with her and passing Bella a bag from this store, a bag that Bella quickly slipped into her purse. Fuck me, I didn't need to know that Bella just bought a vibrator.

Alice took everything that wasn't ours with her so she could bring it to the costume shop tomorrow and left Bella and I alone. I was silent as she started driving. I wasn't even sure where she was going, but after a while she finally decided to talk.

"What's up with you?"

"Don't," I spoke through clenched teeth, "Just don't."

"Don't what?" she asked me, annoyance running through her tone.

"Don't try to make this out to be something stupid. Today's been hard enough without you getting pissed because of how I'm feeling."

"I don't even know…" she started but I cut her off.

"You guys humiliated the shit out of me today! You stood there cracking jokes and made light of the fact that I'm putting on a dress and heels, that I have to tuck my cock between my legs and tape boobs to my chest. I have to remove almost all the hair from my body and wear a wig. That's a lot to cram into three hours. This whole thing is embarrassing enough without the most important person I know laughing at my emasculation."

I felt Bella's hand reach over and grab mine. "I'm sorry. I've been too busy laughing at how ridiculous this all is to realize it would be different to you. Edward, please, talk to me."

I was being a stubborn bitch by my own standards, but I was feeling like crap, which made me snapat her.

"You have to know that you're man enough to do this. Do you think Jake would be taking this as good as you have? I don't think so. But from now on, we'll tone down the jokes."

"You did look pretty funny with that strap on," I admitted with a chuckle.

"I don't know how you guys do it, I prefer my boobs." She smiled back at me.

"Me too," I winked, instantly relieving the tension.

We went to a diner, where Bella fought me until I let her pay the check as part of her apology, even though letting me pay would have worked a little better for my ego. Soon she was dropping me off and driving to catch the ferry.

That evening passed quickly, as did the next two days. It was a cycle of classes, working in the prop room with Bella, and rehearsals. I'd finally gotten a handle on the lines and was starting to feel confident about tomorrow's rehearsal. Angela gave me the stink eye as she asked about the conversation we'd had and I told her that while she was right, I hadn't made any plans to pursue it.

Wednesday was another fast day and soon I was walking into the rehearsal room, excited for what was going to be happening tonight. Now that the scripts were gone, we'd get to move around and really explore the blocking that we were going to be setting in the upcoming rehearsals.

Angela already had some of the major set pieces off to the side while Eric swept. "You're really breaking his balls."

"He has to learn that when he shows up to rehearsal five minutes late that someone was there almost an hour before, sweeping and getting the props and furniture in position, arranging the space, and doing a crazy amount of paperwork. He figured this would be an easy assignment." She smirked as Eric crouched over to use the dustpan. "He'll come to see just how wrong he was."

I laughed at her thought process and then started to stretch in the back of the room, out of everyone's way. Bella and Jake came in a few minutes later and joined me.

"How was shopping this weekend?" Jake asked innocently.

"Eye opening," I answered. "How was your weekend?"

"Cool, I went to the cast party for Leah's show and hung out." Jake blushed, a feat for him and I shot Bella a look.

"Does that mean she's finally done bitching about Sam and Emily?"

"God, I hope so," Bella quipped and then ducked to avoid Jake.

I was happy to hear that Leah was moving on, she and Sam had been one of the big couples during our first year, but when he met Emily, one of Jake's classmates, it was all over and most of last year was spent dealing with the Leah-Sam-Emily painfest.

"Are we ready to dive into some movement?" Aro asked as he walked in.

We did a group warm-up and then started to run the beginning of the show. There was a lot of miming, but we were holding our own, only calling out for a line every once in a while.

At one point I looked over at Angela to see her furiously writing on her script so I knew we were in trouble. The line-nazi was in the building and she was prepared to break us of our bad habits early.

During our second break, I ran to the bathroom and came back to see Aro towering over Bella. She looked really upset, but as soon as she saw me she shook it off and went to use the bathroom.

The rest of rehearsal was tense, Bella was messing up things she hadn't been earlier and her movements were unsure. She just didn't seem to be in it anymore. Aro noticed and called for an early end of the rehearsal, which gave me a chance to talk to Bella.

"What did he say to you?" I asked her outright.

"It doesn't matter," she said as the first tear fell.

"Bella," I whispered as I took hold of her shoulders. That was all it took for the waterworks to start.

"He said that I wasn't trying to act like a man and that he didn't understand why he cast me as Matt. That the classics were fine, but that if I wanted to be part of groundbreaking theater I had a lot of learning to do. I didn't ask to be cast as a guy! I'm just trying to get everything figured out."

I pulled her against my chest. "Bella, I have to learn about being a woman too, and that's why I'd like to propose a deal. You normally crash at my place once your show goes into techs, so why not just pack your things and move in now. You can hang out with me and Jasper, watch us and we'll coach you and you can coach me."

"Shouldn't you ask Jasper first?" she questioned, but I knew he wouldn't care. He spent half his time at Alice's and at this point, I think he'd be too busy telling me how happy he was I took my head out of my ass to care. Jasper has been telling me for ages that Bella and I were great together. Now I just had to make it happen.

"Bella, Jasper practically calls you our third roommate, and having you there, especially for this reason, won't be a problem. Plus, you make fuck-awesome pancakes."

Bella giggled, and hugged me again. "Thanks, you always know what to do to make me feel better."

"Anything to stop those tears. I hate seeing you cry, especially when that jackass is the reason. Maybe we can talk to Alice about getting some of our pieces early that way we can use them to get used to the physical part of it."

"Sounds good."

"Okay," I sighed, happy that I was able to help her, "let's head home."

We went back to my apartment and Jasper was cool about Bella staying with us. The next day, Bella stopped by her place to pick up some things while I did some work in the prop closet. Alice came by to see me, which made me happy, because I could ask her about the costume stuff.

"Alice, I was going to stop by the shop later. Would it be okay if Bella and I got a few pieces of our costume early so we could use it in rehearsal?"

Alice reached up to pinch my cheek before hopping onto one of the cabinets. "Angela already came up to get them."

"Angela?" I asked, because it was too early for her to make the request, unless Aro asked her to and we didn't know about it.

"She heard Aro last night, so she made a request in the rehearsal report." Alice shifted on her seat while I continued to work. "What you did for Bella was really sweet, you'll be good for her."

I glared at her, "Your boyfriend is such a fucking gossip."

"Edward, you like her, now you just have to tell her. She's been waiting for the right person after James, but you're going to have to make the first move."

I nodded, but that was more to appease her. It seems that everyone wanted Bella and I together, but I still didn't know what she'd want. Now I just needed to get up the courage to ask her.

Rehearsal that evening with the costume pieces was harder because of how odd it felt, but at the same time, it helped with our first attempts at playing the roles.

Friday's rehearsal was tough, so we went out to Ballet Studio again and by one thirty in the morning, Bella and I were swaying our way back to my apartment. Jasper was home for the first time since she started crashing there, so Bella argued with me until I agreed to sleep in the bed with her. She wasn't going to make me uncomfortable for the next several weeks by relegating me to the couch in my own place, and as I fell asleep next to her all my troubles drifted.

Saturday's rehearsal was long, but Aro made a flippant comment about how Bella might actually pass for a twelve year-old boy, which was as close to a compliment as she'd get this soon. Sunday she spent the day in Forks, because it was the last time she'd get to see her dad before the show closed, so I spent the day watching chick flicks with Alice on my couch, hoping to pick up some things.

I was in the scene shop on Monday morning, turning in my time card for the week before when Emmett clapped me on the back. "We've got the walls installed, so you'll be good to go. The furniture isn't done yet, and the set hasn't been painted or anything, but you'll have walls for the first rehearsal in the space."

"Sweet, Em. Thanks for busting your ass to get it done." I shook his hand and then headed to class, knowing the day was going to be interesting. I had a meeting with Alice today in the costume shop between classes, and Bella and I were going to be moving through more of the props.

Part of me wanted to sneak a look at the set before meeting with Alice, but I decided it was better to see it tonight. Showing up to the costume shop, Alice whisked me into the back room and had me sit down on one of the stools.

"I know I said we were doing the fittings on Wednesday, but I've got your dress pinned, would you mind if we did a quick fitting now before I start sewing it?"

"Sure," I agreed, wanting to see it on myself. Maybe if I finally had it on and could really see it, the idea wouldn't be so scary.

I stripped down to my boxer briefs and Alice handed me the boots and bra, then gave me my falsies before having me stand on the step to the platform while she stood on it, lowering the dress carefully over my head. She made a few little adjustments and then had me stand up on the top of the platform.

Alice pinned the bottom hem and then moved a few of the pins in and then stood back to look at me.

"Reach behind you with both hands and see if you can reach where the clips are on the back of the dress," she instructed and then she watched as I easily did it.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"If you couldn't reach the zipper in the back I'd have to pin the back to sew it up and do a side zipper." Alice unclipped the back of the dress and helped me out of it. She hung it up and then took the boots, my falsies and the bra that was temporarily holding them up. "Thank you for being so accommodating, I know I wasn't very kind the day we went shopping."

"I was being sensitive, it was a blow to my ego. I'm a guy, so to have to get all dressed up like I'm heading to prom with the quarterback of the football team was hard to deal with, but I'm getting over it."

"How's your voice work going?" Alice asked as I finished getting dressed, her hands stopping me when I went to put on my top.

"Okay, I'm going for a slight rasp; my issue is the French accent."

She laughed with me before meeting my eyes. "For the makeup test on Wednesday, I'm going to need you to be bare chested and your armpits have to be shaved."

"How far down?"

"To your belly button. You'll need to do it all eventually, but for now I just need to be able to do the chest mold in the morning and then do the first makeup test that afternoon. We'll also be doing a fitting, so I was able to get you out of your stage fighting class."

"Thanks, having an excused absence is easier." I hugged Alice and then put on my shirt. "You coming to the bar tonight?"

"Jasper and I will be there," she answered as we walked out of the back room and into the main sewing room. I left Alice to her work and went to my class, knowing that Bella would have food for us in the prop room when I eventually made it down after getting our paperwork.

Class went fast and with my sandwich order written down, Bella headed to the deli while I got the carts and the clipboard from the scene shop. After a quick break to eat, we organized another section and then turned in our time cards to be signed and left everything in the shop before heading to the black box theater.

As we walked in, Bella walked in and gasped, running over to the playing space and giggling as she spun around, her eyes dancing all over. "This is so exciting! Look, they even have the hooks up."

"Are you going to be working on that part today?" The attempted suicide was the opening of the play, but I didn't know if Aro would want to work on that right away, or if he'd prefer to have us work on some of interactions between the three of us on our first day.

"Angela said she has the belt, so maybe?" Was Bella's response.

We did our warm ups while Angela and Eric moved in the rehearsal furniture and a few of the props. Jake was there a few minutes before we started, and as soon as Aro arrived, we dove right in. Thankfully, he started at Davis' entrance, so Bella was simply hiding the belt for the moment.

For the next three hours we worked on Act One, trying different things with the scenes, playing with different deliveries and actions until we came back from the last break.

Aro was sitting in the last row of the theater and he called Jake and I into the audience. "Bella, you've made some improvements in your portrayal of Matt, but the opening of the show is something that rests on your ability to convince the audience that you're on the verge of killing yourself. The scene shop has completed the walls and the hooks you're meant to use, so I'd like to use the last part of rehearsal to play around with it. You've got various props spread across the room, so explore the hostel and then work right up to the moment Jake would be entering."

Bella nodded and picked up the belt, looping it through her own jeans and took her spot at the computer. After a minute of sitting there perfectly still, she began pacing, taking off her belt and pulling on it, as if to test the strength before throwing it on the bed. She cleaned up the desk, kicked a few things under the bed and then looked back down at the belt, picking it back up. Her eyes drifted to the hooks and then she slid the belt through the buckle and threw it around her neck like a tie, then she turned it around and tested it to see if it would choke her. I leaned forward, my anxiety growing after she gagged a few times and she backed over to the hooks, stood on her tippy toes to hook the belt over the hook and then lifted up her feet.

She started struggle, reaching her hands into the belt and all I could think was the hook should have given way already. I could see the fear in her eyes for a second before I was up, only seconds having passed since she started to struggle. I ran to the stage and picked her up, pulling on the hook hard until it fell easily to the floor. The room turned to chaos as Bella leaned into me, gasping for breath.

Voices blurred together, yelling, asking questions as I sat down and pulled the belt from around Bella's neck. She gasped and then started crying, which made it harder for her to breathe. Holding her close, I kept whispering that it was okay, she was fine as she finally slowed her breathing.

"Bella, my dear, are you all right?" Aro asked, seeming truly concerned as he crouched in front of her.

"Fine, I was more scared than anything," Bella answered as she gripped me a little tighter.

"I'm going to write a long entry in the rehearsal report about this. This shouldn't have been allowed to happen." Angela was pacing, her normal, cool demeanor was gone as she tried to figure everything out. "Are you sure you're okay, I can still call an ambulance."

"No," Bella said forcefully, "I promise, it hurts but it's not that bad. I got my hands into the belt so I stopped the pressure, and Edward got to me really fast."

"Are you sure? I'll take you myself if you need to go?" I asked.

"I promise, I'm fine. What I really need is a drink," Bella quipped.

"I think we should end early, Bella, you get a good night's sleep and let me know how you're feeling in the morning."

"Okay," Bella answered and we got our things together.

The five of us got to the bar pretty quick and Bella went to order a drink nearly immediately. I ordered a beer and sat there nursing it as the uneasy feeling ate away at me. She could have died tonight and I'm sitting here, holding my hand to my ass about my feelings for her. I was going to tell her tonight, I just had to figure out how.

A few of the Master's in Acting students showed up and as if she knew I needed to hash some shit out, Maggie sat down next to me.

"Hey stranger, how've you been?"

Instead of trying to lie to Maggie, who had an uncanny fucking ability to call you on your shit, I decided to blurt it out as discretely as possible. "I'm doing the show from hell with the director we've called Satan since before I've been here, there was a problem with one of the set pieces tonight that almost killed Bella, and I haven't told her that I love her yet. How about you?"

Maggie snorted as she turned to look me in the eye. "Wow, I don't even know where to begin with that." She laughed and patted me on the back, "How's Bella?"

"She says she fine, but you know the beginning of the show. The hook didn't give way like it is supposed to and it choked her for a little bit before I got to her. I have never been so scared before in my life." I finished off my beer and motioned for another one as he took Maggie's drink order. "If I tell her that I have feelings for her, do you think it'll look like I did it just because of what happened tonight?"

"I think the honesty of the feelings will be the most important part of the confession. And so what if it was triggered by the accident, all that means is you got a wakeup call and don't want to waste any more time. Now, tell me about the transformation, because I need to hear how the great Edward Cullen gets 'purtied up' for his Red Light District debut."

After the guffaws finally quieted, I started to describe the process. I was starting to grow more comfortable with it and Maggie was one of my closest friends aside from Bella. She didn't tolerate dishonesty, nor did she suffer fools. She had grown up in Ireland, but spent a year in Paris as an exchange student in high school, so her French was impeccable. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten that about her, because I needed someone to help me with my French accent.

I kept looking over at Bella, who was now sitting with Angela, Jasper and Alice were at her table too, but they were in the middle of a very competitive game of tonsil hockey. Bella appeared to be fine as she drank whatever mixed drink she'd chosen for the night, so I decided to talk to Maggie for a little while longer before going to talk to Bella and finally get everything out in the open.

I sent Jasper a quick text, in case he and Alice vanished in a hormone-hazed knot before I could talk to him.

**Jazz, can u and Alice go back to her place? I have to talk to Bella tonight and I don't want and audience.**

It took a minute, but I saw him pull away from Alice and look at his phone, he smiled and handed her the phone. Alice giggled and then texted their response.

**Sure thing, go get her, tiger. ROAR!**

That had me laughing again, and when Maggie asked to be in on the joke, I showed her the text. We talked for a little while longer when I decided I'd better get to it. I hopped off the barstool only to turn and see Bella was no longer at the table. I walked over to the three of them and Angela looked up surprised.

"Where's Bella?"

"She left," it was the only response Angela gave me.

"I can see that, where'd she go?"

Angela shrugged and focused on her phone. "I don't know, I went to the bathroom and she was gone. She isn't answering me either."

"How long ago?" I pressured her.

"Five minutes maybe? She was upset before I went to the restroom though, muttering about something, but she wasn't talking."

"If you hear from her, text me. I'm going to look for her."

I threw down enough money to cover my tab and ran for the door. Pausing I tried to think about where she'd go and realized that if she was pissed and didn't come to me, she would try to go home. My apartment was on the way to the ferry, so I could check both as I took off in that direction.

It didn't take me long to find her as she swayed and stumbled down the street about two blocks from the bar. I ran up behind her and tried to get her to turn but she pulled away.

"Bella, it's me." I told her and she spun around faster than she should as drunk as she was, I reached out to keep her from hitting the pavement.

"I know it's you," she spat, taking a minute to realize I was holding her hips. Once she noticed it, she pushed my hands away, "Let go of me!"

"Bella, what's going on? Please, just come home and we can talk."

"Home," she sneered. "Your place isn't home to me."

"Bella, will you please just tell me-"

"Excuse me, is there a problem here?" We both turned to see a police officer behind us.

"No, officer, I'm just trying to get her-" I tried to say, but he cut me off.

"I was talking to the young lady, son," the cop spoke. "Miss?"

"We're okay. I was just being drunk and stupid." Bella smiled at him and he seemed appeased.

"Get home safe," was his parting comment as I took Bella's hand and led her down the block.

"Where are we going?" she asked, yanking on our joined hands.

"I'm taking you home so we can talk," I told her, not slowing my steps.

"Don't bother; I can make it there on my own, just go back to Maggie." The venom in her voice confused me, her and Maggie were friends.

"What does Maggie have to do with anything, she's just my friend." I tried to find out what the hell was going on with her, but she decided to continue ranting at me.

"Oh, so you get that cozy with everyone? It makes sense, I mean, we share a bed often enough and I'm _just_ Bella. You know, Edward, most men don't realize it, but sometimes referring to a woman as being like your sister or your best friend is the verbal equivalent of smacking them in the face."

I was starting to get dizzy, and I needed this fucking un-merry go round to end. "What are you talking about, 'just Bella?'"

"I'm talking about the idiotic fact that I've liked you forever and you can't even wrap your head around the concept of wanting to be with me. Do you know how much it hurts to be relegated to the best friend role by the only person you want more with?" She gasped, obviously telling me more than she wanted to, but I wasn't about to let her go.

"Please tell me that this isn't the booze talking?" I implored, because I couldn't handle hearing the words and having them be nothing more than drunken ramblings.

"It isn't. And now that I've made a complete fool of myself, I'm going to Angela's house for the night." Bella tried again to make a quick getaway, but I kept her close.

"No," I whispered, "You are coming home with me. We're going to change out of these clothes and climb into bed so I can finally hold you while we sleep, and tomorrow we're going to hash the rest of this out."

"What's left to discuss?" Her eyes bore into mine as she waited for my response, as if the words might kill her.

"For starters, the fact that if I wasn't a thick motherfucker, I would have realized I had feelings for you too and we could have been together all this time."

Her eyes bulging as I kissed her cheek, my lips inches from her ear as I murmured, "I think we should get moving before that cop comes back."

Bella nodded and I led her home, steadying her a few times. When we got to my door, I opened it and let her in, locking it before we made our way to the apartment. I unlocked the deadbolt and moved to the doorknob when Bella's hand grazed the front of my pants.

"Bella," I said in warning, but it only appeared to push her forward as she stroked me harder.

"Tell me again," her voice was low and it went straight to my crotch, which she was still paying close attention to.

"I want you, in every way, especially like _that_, but I need to get us inside and you need to sleep off the alcohol. You're going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning."

She giggled, but relented long enough for us to get inside. I let her in and moved into the kitchen as she headed straight for the bedroom. When I walked in a minute later, she was sitting there in her bra and I swear I almost lost the battle between my upper and lower heads. I sat down the bottle of Advil and water and grabbed one of her old t-shirts out of the open suitcase sitting on my floor. Rolling up the fabric in my hands I stood over her, "Lift up your arms."

She did as I asked and I pulled the shirt over her, then went back to the pills, handing her two and the bottle of water, "Take these." She swallowed the pills and drank enough water to get them down. "Finish the bottle, it's better to get you hydrated at least a little bit now."

"Are you always this bossy?" She grumbled as she slowly finished the water. I turned away to get undressed and when I looked back towards the bed to grab my lounge pants, Bella was pulling her bra through her sleeve.

"Christ, Bella."

"What?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Nothing," I told her as I settled into bed, holding open the blankets and my arms to her. She rested her head on my chest and I covered us both up, my arms wrapping around her. "Night, Bella."

"Goodnight, Edward."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all for the love for the first two chapters. I'm off tomorrow, so I'll be responding to the reviews then. I'm not going to go on here, instead I'll let you just enjoy the chapter. Leave some love!**

Chapter 3

I woke up the next morning to the warm weight of Bella beside me. She groaned in her sleep, I knew that she'd be feeling like crap when she finally opened her eyes. Wanting to get some things ready for her, but not ready to let go of her yet, I lay for a few more minutes before she stirred, swearing as she looked up to find me staring at her.

"Last night really happened?" she asked, her hand shielding her eyes from the daylight that peeked in my window.

"It did. I'm going to get you some Advil and water, why don't you get your things together and take a shower?"

"Okay," she whispered as I got up and grabbed a bottle of water so she could take a few more pills. She sauntered off to the bathroom with a handful of clothes while I went to pick out my own for the day.

A little while later, Bella emerged dressed, her hair in a towel as I passed her on my way to the bathroom so I could shower. As soon as I closed the door I was assaulted by the scent of her beauty products and I couldn't help the groan that escaped me. Trying to shower as quickly as possible, I got dressed and went back into my room to throw on my shoes.

Bella's hair was now up in a messy knot and her sunglasses were on…in my bedroom.

"Are you going to make it today?" I asked, pretty skeptical.

"I just need coffee," she assured me as we grabbed our bags and headed to school.

The bus ride was nice, Bella pressed into my side as my arm rested across her shoulder, but as soon as we stepped off, I guided her to the deli. Bella went to make our coffees as I grabbed two large bottles of water.

"Bella, bread or greasy?" I asked, gesturing towards the short order cook.

"Greasy," she answered as I pushed my way through the crowd.

"What can I get you?" The cooked asked me.

"Two bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll."

He nodded and I walked up to the counter before Bella could see what I was doing. "What'd you order?"

"Two bacon, egg, and cheese, these," I said holding up the waters, "and two large coffees."

He rang me up and I paid, going back to get the food as Bella and I found a quiet corner to eat before she called Aro and headed to class.

"Are we going to the prop room after class?" she asked as she polished off her coffee.

"Yup. How are you feeling?"

"Better," she blushed and kissed me on the cheek, "Thank you for taking care of me this morning."

"My pleasure, see you in theater history." And with that, she walked off to her voice class.

The day passed and when I met Bella in our history class, she had her seat right next to mine. I sat beside her and we managed to make it through the discussion of ancient Japanese theater. I walked with her to grab something for lunch and then we ducked back into the prop room.

"When did you realize you liked me?" Bella asked as she organized a shelf filled with little statues.

"Saturday's rehearsal, I was talking to Angela and it just clicked. My reaction to Mike was something that was exclusive to you and it just made me realize how long I've held you up on this pedestal. You've always been special to me, but now I feel really stupid that I didn't see it sooner." I looked over at her, the smile playing on her lips as her eyes went back to the shelf. "What about you?"

"The first time you kissed me during rehearsals for _Out of Gas on Lovers Leap,_" she whispered.

"Bella, why didn't you say anything?" It killed me that she'd felt this way all that time and had kept it a secret.

"I was still dating James, and after he dumped me because of it, I was afraid you might not feel the same way."

She still looked unsure and I was damn sure going to make sure she knew that I did feel the same. I walked over to her and kissed her hard. She hadn't been expecting it, so the gasp of surprise allowed me access into her mouth. Pulling Bella closer to me, she did the same, clutching onto my hair until we were out of breath.

"Fuck…Edward, kiss me again," she moaned and I obliged.

The hour in the prop room was pretty much spent like that, making out. How in the hell had I not been doing this with her for the last two years?

When we finally emerged from the prop room to grab dinner before rehearsal, our attempt to cut through the scene shop was stopped by some serious screaming.

"What the hell is wrong with you? She could have died!" Emmett was fuming as he stood over Austin Marks, one of the younger techies.

"How was I supposed to know there had been changes?" He tried to stand his ground against Emmett, however foolish it was.

"Because the plans you were working off of were weeks old. You were supposed to check in before moving ahead with the build. If you had, you would have known that the actress playing the role is 60lbs lighter and ten inches shorter than the actor we originally thought. She hooked the belt and the industrial magnet you used didn't give way and she was too short to stand up and stop it from choking her."

"I've said I'm sorry, I don't know what else you want me to do." Austin spoke, but once again Emmett was looming over him.

"I want you to work on polishing the items brought up from the prop room, you can't kill a bowl." Emmett spun around only to find us standing frozen in his way. "I'm sorry about what happened, Bella. I should have done it myself, a fact that was made perfectly clear to me when I sat through the long meeting this morning. It will be redone for tomorrow's rehearsal and it will be properly tested before Angela is given the go ahead."

"It's okay, Emmett, I know it was an accident." Bella hugged him and then we headed out to grab some Taco Bell before rehearsal.

After a long conversation at the start of rehearsal, Aro had us move into Act Two. The rehearsal was long, but that was probably because I spent a good part of it staring at Bella's ass. I had noticed that the hooks were completely gone, but nothing else about last night was mentioned, so I didn't think about it again. The end of rehearsal was the interesting part, because Aro made an announcement that almost stopped me in my tracks.

"Tomorrow we're moving onto another aspect of this show, in order to give our actors the chance to acclimate themselves with the concept. So come fully prepared to stage the end scenes of both Acts, because tomorrow will be Nearly Naked Wednesday."

"What?" Bella asked, obviously not amused either.

"We're going to acclimate you to wearing your various paraphernalia and begin to play around with the sex scenes. Now to do this, we'll be closing the rehearsal to everyone, including our ASM."

"What did I do?" Eric asked, offended.

"Nothing in particular, but Miss Weber can sit there and take notes without making the actors feel self-conscious and I need this to be a comfortable environment for them. You will be allowed into future rehearsals once everything has been settled. I'll see you all tomorrow."

We all left in a little bit of a fog, not sure at all what tomorrow would bring.

On the bus ride home, I breeched the next subject with Bella. "I kind of need your help tonight."

"Sure, what's up?" she asked, her eyes bright as she looked up at me.

"I have to do the prep work for tomorrow's makeup test. Which means I have to get rid of my chest hair and shave my armpits, but I have no idea how to use that veet shit you two bought me."

Bella giggled as she traced her hand over my chest, "I think I can help you out there."

"Thanks, I was nervous about asking you," I admitted.

"Why, I think it's great that you're this committed. I mean, sure, you had your moment of freak out, but it's understandable. I talked to Alice, and she said that depending on how it is done, you could be sitting there for a while."

"Yeah, last time we chatted, she got some plaster of Paris, so it will take about 20-30 minutes, but on Friday when I go back she'll have the skin so I can try it all together."

Bella burrowed closer to me as we neared our stop, "Can I hang out while you have to sit there, I can keep you entertained while it's drying."

"I'd love to have you there with me," I told her just as we reached our stop.

We entered the apartment and then went to the bathroom, where Bella started digging through the bag from Target, setting up bottle and razors and all sorts of things. I got two towels and sat on the toilet, patiently waiting for her to be done. She noticed my apprehension and smiled sweetly, kissing me just as she turned on an electric razor.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked, a little nervous.

"Well, it'll be quicker to shave your armpits if the hair is shorter, so I figured we could use this to trim it." She told me.

"But where did you get it, because Jasper and I both use regular razors?" I asked.

"It's mine. I promise I ran the sanitizer since I used it," she rambled, suddenly embarrassed.

"But what would you use it…" and then I realized where she might need an electric razor for and my pants tightened accordingly. "Fuck, Bella. _That_ is the last thing I need to be thinking about."

She smacked my bare chest and motioned for me to raise my arms. For the next few minutes I sat there while Bella trimmed the hair as much as she could before handing me a razor and a bottle of cheap shampoo.

"What's this for?" I started to feel like that was going to be something I repeating a lot in the next hour.

Bella rolled her eyes, "Shaving cream is thick, and you wind up taking twice as long to shave because you're removing more cream than hair. The shampoo will soften the hair and doesn't just sit there. Just trust me."

Deciding she knew what was best, I lathered up my pits and started shaving. Sure enough, it went pretty quickly and I was soon standing there without a hair under my arms. "Okay, now what about the rest?"

Bella picked up the Veet and popped the lid, lathering it up on my chest, stomach and sides. I noticed that she was doing a very thorough job with the exception of my nipples, which she avoided. I was curious about why she didn't just save time and coat my whole chest so I asked her. "Why did you make a point not to put any on nipples?"

"Because if I did, they'd fall off," she stated quite matter-of-factly.

"What?" I may have squeaked, why the hell would they use something that caustic on their bodies, and why had she used it on me?

"I'm just fucking with you, Edward. But it can irritate it and I wanted to be careful." She smirked up at me and then washed her hands before picking up her phone and starting up a game of Angry Birds.

"So I just sit here?"

Bella nodded, not taking her eyes off the screen, "Yeah, I'll check it in a few minutes and then when it's ready you'll wash it off."

For the next seven minutes I stood there before Bella took a washcloth and wet it in the basin of water, she wrung it out and then started to wash my chest. It was loving, the way she wiped away some of the cream and then rinsed the cloth before moving on to another section. When it was finally off, she let me take a shower and by the time I got into the bedroom, she was sound asleep.

*TPtT*

Bella and Alice were waiting for me in the back room of the costume shop with matching excited looks, so I sat down my stuff down and waited for Alice to tell me what to do next.

"Take off your shirt and lie down on the table, I'm going to get your boobs," Alice said as Bella began laughing.

Alice got the falsies and took five minutes figuring out the correct placement and then taping them to my chest, the front of them coated in saran wrap to protect them. Next, I raised my arms and Bella put a box over my torso with the top and bottom cut out, as well holes for my waist, arms and neck. Alice was busy stirring a large container of plaster while Bella walked over to me with a can of cooking spray.

"Do I want to know?" I asked her and she laughed, shaking her head at me.

"It's to protect your skin, plaster and concrete leech out water and it'll burn your skin if it makes direct contact," Alice mentioned from a few feet away as Bella sprayed the all the skin that was within the box.

Alice walked over, giving me bitchbrow, which I was taking as, 'don't fucking move, Cullen.' A minute later I felt the first bit of the plaster glop onto my chest as Alice carefully filled in the sides of the mold and then smoothed it over my chest and upper stomach. Once it was done, Alice set the timer and told me to let her know when the plaster started to cool.

The next twenty minutes was odd as I felt the plaster warm up and then eventually cool down. I told Alice and she tested the surface and then gave me a shy look. "Let me know if it starts pulling at hairs or your skin or anything."

"Alice, you aren't inspiring a whole lot of confidence at the moment," I confessed.

"Hush, I made a mold of my arm and it just stuck to me a little, if it does we just have to spray you as we move the mold." She admonished me and then she and Bella got on either sides of me. "Edward, we're going to pull the tablecloth to the end of the table so you can sit up and help us, so don't freak out thinking you're falling off the table."

I nodded and then let the girls drag my ass to edge of the table and then I sat up as they started moving the mold, my body moving slightly against the vacuum effect that had been created before it came away from my skin. Alice looked at it while Bella helped me remover my falsies and clean up. Once I was done, Bella handed me the bra and I tried on my dress. Alice was flapping around in excitement while Bella looked at me in the boots and dress and could barely keep from laughing, but I could barely hold it in too.

After I was changed, Bella and I went to the scene shop, and I was shocked to notice we were more than halfway done with our hours. "If we keep going like this, we'll be done with them before the show ends."

"And the end of the semester will be without fear of an incomplete, how did we get that lucky?" Bella crooned.

"I got a partner that I can't stay away from, so we're in there every moment we aren't in class," I responded and she kissed me as we went to log in another hour.

Just like he told us, a few new items were in the bag beside Angela and Eric was not in attendance, so we tried to warm up, but all of us were a little apprehensive of how this would go.

The first part of rehearsal was good, but as soon as we took the second break and Angela called us over, Bella and I both tensed. It was the first time for both of us to be wearing all of this outside of the costume shop, so we headed to the bathrooms to change. I took an extra minute tucking my junk and then put on the underwear over it, finally slipping on the bra and falsies and then using the robe that Alice had mercifully sent down with the costume pieces to hide the red dress from anyone who might be in the hall.

Bella was already in the rehearsal room while Jake walked around and I noticed that there was only one bed on the stage and the desk was downstage, we were doing Act Two first. Jake and I had actively avoided the fact that we had to kiss and I wasn't about broach that with him right now.

Aro told us to just go with it and he'd give notes after, but he wanted to see how we saw the scene.

Jake and I went through it, not kissing but exploring each other's personal space before he turned me and bent me over the desk. My dress was lifted up over my ass and I heard Jake's zipper just as my eyes met Bella's.

I knew that Christina would be excited to finally be with Davis, but I couldn't get over the demeaning feeling that this position offered. And the moment he answered the phone, his hand reaching forward to cover my mouth, I felt cheap.

We finished the 'sex' and as soon as Jake exited the stage I found myself going on instinct, collecting my things, leaving the apartment and running off to my death.

The room was quiet as Aro called us back and he talked over the scene with us both. Jake discussed how there was a disturbing feeling of power over me and I mirrored it with the feelings that had overcome me. It was Aro's comments for it that surprised me.

"There was something very interesting that happened around the time that Davis answered his phone, it was as if a switch went off in your mind and you were completely in that moment, there wasn't a shred of Edward left, you became Christina."

"I felt it, to be that disregarded, I felt used and I wanted to get the hell out of there, I didn't even play the cassette tape because I forgot about that stage direction," I admitted.

"Go with that, Matt has that with him in Amsterdam, so he could play it and remember you if you don't actually play it at the end during a performance. I'd rather you be in the moment then playing the beats." I felt good knowing that Aro liked it, so after he gave a few notes about the beginning, we ran it again and then he dismissed Jake for the night so that Bella and I could do our scene.

We sat there in our rehearsal clothes and as the scene started and Bella turned so that I could strip while she did the same, I watched her and settled into the bed. She rolled the condom over her strap-on and then tried to settle between my legs, but there was so much awkwardness in our movements. She was too high up so she had to move back to 'enter' me and then thrust a few times before her arms started to shake from the strain of holding herself so stiff over me. Another minute or two and she faked an orgasm that looked more painful than euphoric and gently settled onto my chest.

There was a long pause before Aro called scene and we went for our robes. The look on Angela's face let me know how bad that looked to the audience.

"Umm…okay," Aro stalled, "that was not exactly what I was looking for. You were too tense. It was like two virgins who had never watched porn, or touched themselves…or anything, really. You two are together now, aren't you?"

We both nodded and he let out a deep breath. "Okay, so I'm not saying you have to have sex, if you haven't yet, but explore what sex is like from the other person's perspective. Talk about it, something, because that was bordering on painful to watch. I have every confidence that you can make this be exactly what it needs to be, especially with how Edward connected with Christina on the last scene. So how about we call it a night and you can come back next Wednesday with a better mindset on how to go into this scene, and if we need to explore it more than just on Wednesday's then we can do that as well," he stopped for a moment, but then finished the thought, "but for now let us just see where it goes."

Aro all but ran from the rehearsal room while Bella and I went to change. Angela had most of her things packed up and in the locker when we came back with our bags. After we helped Angela move the furniture, we left the campus together.

The bus ride was uncomfortable and as we got off at our stop I finally asked Bella what was wrong.

"Edward, that isn't us. We're good together," she bemoaned. "We're better than bad faked sex, we're good sex…I need good sex!" She yelled a little too loudly as someone down the street told me to give it to her.

I ushered her into the apartment and took her face in my hands, "Bella, we are good sex, we're great sex. And I'm going to prove it to you, but can we talk about a few things first?"

She nodded and we both went into my bedroom and I told her to get into her underwear. "I just want to explain some things to you and get your opinions."

"Like what does it feel like, when you're having sex?" I was starting to feel real silly asking her this, but she smiled and got up.

"Tell me first?" she asked as she dug around.

"What did you want to know?"

"Well I had on the strap-on, so I know how it feels to thrust with that attached to me, but how does penetration feel?" She blushed cherry red and I couldn't suppress the chuckle.

"This is going to sound like something out of a porno, but it's warm, and wet, and you can feel it grip you. Now some women are tighter than others, but you know how it feels to have someone inside you, imagine how it feels to be gripped like that, like your body grips your fingers when you play with yourself." I said, getting really fucking turned on by the direction this discussion was talking.

"Okay," she told me, turning to hold up a bottle of lube in one hand and her vibrator in the other. The vibrator landed on the bed as she took my hand in hers, "Strip, I want to show you something."

I took off my underwear and she did the same, her hand came back to mine with the lube as she formed my hand into an open fist.

"Fuck your hand, but forget how your dick feels and focus on your hand." I pumped my fist over myself and started feeling my hand, how my cock pushed against it, filling my fist, then she started talking, "Now imagine it 100 times more sensitive. Every stroke causing any one of a dozen reactions."

She started fingering herself and my eyes were now watching her movements, matching her pace, "Think about how sensitive your tip is, a woman's clit is exponentially more sensitive than that, every bit of pressure sending a shock through your system."

Her hand moved up to her left breast and she started playing with it, "Play with your nipple, Edward. Feel how the pain turns to pleasure."

I did what she told me and holy shit was that intense. Watching her masturbate while I did it too was quickly becoming too much, so I wiped my hand off on my shirt and pulled her to me, looking her in the eye.

"See how I'm hovering over you, and look as I use my hand to guide myself to you. Do it like that, that way you can guide it close but pin it between us when you get close." I slid into her and class was dismissed as I pounded into her, her hands clawing at my back and ass to pull me closer, her hips meeting mine. It seems neither of us wanted anything sweet tonight.

I could feel myself coming and when I did, I saw Bella's focused stare before her own orgasm ripped through her. I reached over and lobbed her vibrator onto her suitcase before pulling her to me and covering us up.

"Was that good sex?" I asked her.

"Shut up," she yawned as she fell asleep against me.

The week seemed to move fast after that and soon we were at another Sunday, but this time it was filled with Bella and I locked in my room 'rehearsing.' Let me just tell you, whatever horny motherfucker invented the vibrator deserves the Noble Peace Prize.

*TPtT*

Monday afternoon found us back in the prop room, with less to work through and plenty of hours left to log, so we may have gotten a little creative with our time.

"Oh, God, Edward…right there," Bella moaned as I kissed her, hoping to drown out her moans.

"You like that, sexy. Oh fuck, you feel so good on my cock." I told her. That initial experiment had led to very vocal dirty talk, but my girl loved it as much as I did, so I wasn't about to be shy, even if we were defrauding the scene shop of hours. We'd make it up…eventually.

About forty minutes later, we were back to organizing today's shelf, but every minute or so, Bella would shoot me a look which let me know that we were going to be finishing this before the show closed, that way we could find better ways to spend our time. Then it hit me, I hadn't taken Bella out on a real date yet.

"Bella, what are you doing on Sunday?" I asked, although I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

"Hanging out with you?" she asked skeptically.

"But do you want to really do something? Like dinner or a movie," I pussy-footed around it and she huffed a laugh.

"If you're asking me out, you better try a little harder, Cullen."

"Go out with me this Sunday? I want to take you somewhere nice. You know, you in a dress and me wearing a tie…"

"It doesn't have to be that fancy-" she tried to admonish, but I cut her off.

"Bella, we spend a decent amount of our time these days packing spare parts, we're going out looking like the sex we were born."

That had her almost literally rolling on the floor, but as she wiped the tears from her eyes, she nodded to me. "That sounds amazing."

*TPtT*

I was surprised as all hell when I got the call from Angela telling me that rehearsal was going to be a little different tonight, because rehearsals for this show were the most unorthodox I've ever experienced.

I met up with Bella only to find Angela sitting alone in the rehearsal room.

"What's going on, where is everyone?" Bella asked as she looked around.

"Aro had some meeting he couldn't miss and he told me that he wanted to see some physical character development tonight, so I gave Jake and Eric the night off. I've got a surprise for later, but right now, change into your rehearsal clothes and then come back in here." Angela dismissed us and I was too intrigued to be putting up a fight.

Once we were locked into the theater, Angela started setting things out around the stage area. Then she turned to me and smiled.

"You're first, Edward." I walked up beside her and she pointed to the different items, "I want you to put on your makeup, read a book, send a text message, pack the suitcase and take a piss pretending that chair is a toilet. But do it as Christina."

Groaning, I sat down in front of the makeup, taking a deep breath to center myself. When I opened my eyes, I was ready and began with the foundation. The makeup was easier because I was so good at applying it, but I tried to be more delicate in my movements, more precise. Women do it so quickly, so I tried to do the same.

The text message was easier, because it was just softer movements, but it was more or less the same thing. The book was something I took a moment to prepare for, remembering how Bella would read. How she held the spine in one hand and kept her place with the other, her face almost pressed into it. I could see Christina getting lost in books with how her life had turned out, especially with how the brief discussion of books came up in the play.

The suitcase was something I had figured out. Men pack their suitcase, or at least I do, like they're in a race. Throwing things in and not really caring, but with the moving around Christina has done and the fact that she's probably had to leave a few places quickly, I was organized chaos. I folded things quickly and got the bag loaded, throwing in the toiletries and things that would save time before zipping it up and moving as if I was running for the door.

Last was the 'toilet.' Fuck me. I walked over and eyed the seat before miming lining it with toilet paper and lifting up the dress, pretending to drop my underwear and then sitting down. It felt so weird, but I stood up after a minute, pretended to wipe myself and dropped my dress.

I looked up to see Bella and Angela both holding their hands over their mouths.

"Oh Baby, you and I need to spend some QT in the bathroom, because that was the most awkward piss imaginable." Bella lost her battle and I huffed, sitting down next to them while I waited for Angela to regain herself enough to talk about the purpose of the exercise.

She moved on, having Bella drink a cup of coffee, swing a hammer, play a video game, make the bed, and masturbate. I had thought when Angela gave her the tasks that the masturbation would have been the funniest, but my girl knew her way around a cock, even a rubber one.

The thing that really had me dying though was when she got to the mime of playing a video game. There was a playstation controller that someone had brought in because they'd broken it, so Bella got the suitcase I'd used and sat it in front of her, I thought to pretend it was the game system. She leaned forward, all intense, her posture completely changed, and then after a minute of ducking and bobbing, she started muttering a cursing. If that hadn't been funny enough, she yelled and spiked the controller like Jasper does when I beat him and she slouched and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the imaginary TV.

Now that she had finished her round, Angela started asking questions. We figured out pretty quickly that Bella was doing things bigger as a man, bigger gestures, a bigger voice, and she knew that she'd be timid to play Matt. But there was a difference between how she would act shy, and how a guy who was uncomfortable about the fact that his friend's way to cheer him up was to buy him a hooker in Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, I realized that Christina would be more delicate and deliberate in her movements. There wasn't anything done half-assed, even when she was doing something hurried or unsure, once she committed to it then she did it completely.

We took a quick break, and when we came back, Angela had us do some of our normal exercises from class. We walked around like our characters, sat down and stood up, greeted each other. She had us recite lines at random to get used to the movement and the vocal elements together and for the first time everything was coming together. I got myself into the raspier voice I'd chosen for her, which was sexier sounding than me trying to raise my voice into a falsetto and keep it for the whole show. Plus, with all the smoking Christina did, it wasn't so far-fetched for her to have that quality to her voice.

Bella's deeper voice had cracked me up when she first tried it in rehearsal, but she'd found the balance between her own voice and the baritone she'd been dropping it to just to not sound like a woman. We were really starting to come off more like the sex we were portraying, my walk becoming more confident while Bella was picking up the posture she'd been trying to master.

When we were finished, Ang told us to change because she had a surprise field trip for us. I did what I was told and then we walked to Angela's car and drove off.

Angela pulled up to the club and I had a feeling that Bella was in on this, because she wasn't surprised at all. "What in the hell are we doing at a strip club?"

"Baby, what better place is there for you to see women interact with men while they sell what's as close to sex as they can? You'll get to see the women ooze sex appeal and I'll get to watch all the guys reactions to the show. Plus, Angela's buying me a lap dance so I'm excited!"

This was seriously not fucking happening.

We walked in and I paid my twenty dollars, but was seriously annoyed to see Bella and Angela only have to pay ten dollars because of some B.Y.O.B. discount. Angela led the way to a table near the stage and almost immediately, two women descended on us.

"Welcome to Glowworm, what can I get you, sugar?" The buxom blonde leaned forward as I ordered a jack and coke, Bella getting the same while Angela got herself a soda.

As soon as the waitress left, the second woman towered over us. "There's a few minutes before our next show, is there anything you'll be needing before then?"

I was about to politely decline when Bella spoke up, "I think my boyfriend needs a little help relaxing." Bella slipped some money to the red-head in front of me and I felt her fingers trace my shoulders before she started moving over me. She barely touched me, if I was being honest, but having Bella watching so intently had me hard as a rock and ready to push the chick off my lap and replace her with my girl.

But soon enough she left my lap, and moved over to Bella's. This was a lesson in self control, because I was trying to watch her movements, see the way she moved her body and how she used it to gain a reaction that would never be fulfilled, but all I saw was a hot chick practically riding my Bella. It's safe to say that Bella got her money's worth from that dance.

It was just as she was finishing Bella's lap dance and our drinks arrived that the lights dimmed and the music started as Gianna took to the stage. This was my chance to focus on her body, to see how she danced and strutted across the stage. I would have to balance vulnerability with that kind of command of my sexuality for Christina.

The next act was Maria, a Hispanic girl who was too much bravado for me. Her number was more like an intro to a submissive relationship than it was a striptease.

The third dancer was Victoria, our private dancer, and boy could she move. She whipped her hair around and made use of her long limbs as she effortlessly spun and moved along the stage. Bella whistled, sticking a few ones in her g-string as she made her final pass. Obviously, someone had become attached.

I was about to lift my empty glass, only to find it had been replaced with a full one. I looked to Angela, who winked before a petite girl who called herself Jane pulled Bella's chair out and danced all over her.

My second drink was gone and so was my third as Bella got all kinds of attention from the dancers. She kept laughing and looking over at me.

We'd been there about an hour and a half when Angela mercifully called it a night. The drive back to my place was quiet, and as we snuck in so as not to wake Jasper, she finally started talking.

"Thank you for tonight. It was exactly what I needed, but I'm sorry you didn't have any fun."

"I did have fun," I told her, "It was just a weird experience. I was watching these girls all over you and part of me was turned on, while the other was like, 'back off, she's mine.'"

"Well, you certainly helped me. I saw how uncomfortable you would get at moments, it was like you were in the moment and then you'd realize that I was there and you'd freeze up."

"It was odd having you there," I admitted.

"Baby, that was a trip, and I was glad that I got to experience it with you. But I want to tell you something. Watching a stripper isn't cheating, but if you want a show, there's no need to pay for it." Bella winked and I was instantly hard again.

"Bella, what do you say we rehearse for tomorrow's sex scene again. I think I need to show you some more technique on how to hold your body above mine."

"Okay, but remember, I'm mimicking your 'O' face, so make it a good one," she teased as we climbed into bed and rehearsed our hearts out.

*TPtT*

Aro came into the rehearsal wanting to know all about our work, so we described the exercises we did and the realizations we came to and he seemed genuinely pleased. Trying to stay on schedule, Aro had us run the show first, that way we could see everything come together.

We weren't going to do the sex scenes fully until the end of the night, so for the next two hours we ran the show without it. I decided to go for broke and debuted a melody I'd come up with a while back that seemed to fit the song Christina sings when we got to that part.

When the run-through ended, Aro gave us his notes, but he was really pleased with our progress. He was particularly excited about the song, but that died down when we broke before rehearsing the sex scenes.

I was worried that it would be awkward again, but when Bella and I got into position and started to run the few lines before the silent ending to the act, we fell into our characters and I was actually proud of how it went. It was far from perfect, but we would definitely get there if we kept rehearsing it.

What I hadn't expected was Aro's critique. It was a little too detailed and creepy for me, but after the blasting he gave us for the painful-looking sex we'd faked last week, I'd take the pervy thumbs up.

Right before Jake and I got up to do our scene, I looked at him and asked the question he and I had been silently avoiding since we realized the casting change.

"Do you wanna?"

"Might as well," was his response, and with that, we moved the furniture a little bit and I took another deep breath.

Walking up to him, I gently wrapped my arms around him, tight enough to show I was serious, but still feminine. We were the same height with the heels, so instead of looking up, I leaned in and remembered some of Bella's advances. The way she would sweetly start a make out session instead of the heads first way I usually did. When I was almost at his ear, I started kissing Jake, trailing my way back to his mouth. Just as I got to the corner of his mouth he grabbed me and planted a kiss square on my lips.

It was a battle of wills, but at least we were figuring out how to go about this kiss. Sooner than I expected, he spun me around and I was back over the desk. And I had been wrong. Being bent over the desk like that and having him fuck me that way was not degrading, nor was the way he covered my mouth while he talked to his girlfriend on the phone, his dick still theoretically in me; the degrading thing was how something that started out passionate, even if it was a second, had turned cold and almost violent.

I was shocked by the emotions that I felt and was sure I was going to get yelled at for breaking character, but when we finished the scene and Aro called us to sit down, I couldn't read his expression.

"I'm not going to give you a single note tonight on that scene. We'll clean it up some more the next time we do it, but there was something magical that happened that I'm not going to mess with by talking about it. Excellent work tonight, you're free to go."

Well damn, I guess I was wrong. Maybe that disconnect was what the moment called for. Either way, I finally felt like this was truly going to be something amazing.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, so it wouldn't truly be me without missing one of the self-imposed deadlines, but I needed this to end right and it was going to come out rushed and poorly written if I did it all for Monday at 11:59pm. A few more shout outs to close this anniversary celebration, and then we'll get into it.**

**My sister, Patti996, who was the person to talked me into creating this profile and reading my first fic, which a week later had the first chapter of fic posted on it…thanks for being a nudge, love you!**

**To Twibetween, especially WB, for letting me join the staff and share my favorite fics with you, including the honor of pimping this fic out on the fic recs this week, love you ladies…**

…**And now, the conclusion of this little tale.**

Chapter 4

The rest of the week seemed to move way too fast, but I think a large part of that had to do with the fact that Bella had agreed to go out with me on Sunday. I'd been hoping to not make an 'Alice Brandon Production' out of it, but she had the power to lop two feet off of my gown and make it a cocktail dress, so I wasn't about to piss her off.

We woke up Sunday morning, but around two o'clock Jasper came in giving me a look I knew was going to suck for me.

"Sorry man, we have to bond. Alice needs to borrow the squatter until it is time for your date."

"Where am I supposed to change?" I asked, annoyed that she was kicking me out of the apartment.

"You're not going anywhere," Alice said as she squeezed past Jasper and grabbed Bella's wrist, "I'm kidnapping your girlfriend. Pick her up at my place at 5:30."

I groaned, but leaned forward to give Bella a kiss before Alice dragged her the rest of the way out.

Jasper and I turned on the system in the living room and started playing James Bond on two player mode. It only took ten minutes for me to thoroughly spank him, and when he threw down the controller I thought back to Wednesday's rehearsal and couldn't stop the laughter.

"What's so funny, Edward?" he asked, annoyance clearly coloring his tone.

"We were doing some exercises in rehearsal, and Bella had to pretend to play a video game as a guy, and she did the exact same thing you just did." I tried taking a deep breath while he grumbled and reached for a different game.

We played until four o'clock, and then I jumped in the shower and started getting ready. Putting on a dark blue button-down and a black tie with my suit, I checked my mess of hair one last time before driving over to Alice's place.

For all of my whining about Alice taking her this afternoon, it meant that I had to pick Bella up, like it was a real date, which I'm sure Alice realized as well. If she had been at her apartment, it would have taken over an hour to get there, but twenty minutes later, I was ready to knock on the door.

Alice let me in, a big smile on her face as she called Bella out from the back bedroom.

Bella was wearing a dress that almost exactly matched the color of my shirt; it was a halter top that dipped low down on her back and made Bella look absolutely stunning. Her hair was straight, flowing down her back and hiding her exposed skin. Bella may be comfortable with having to strip down for a role, but when she was herself she didn't like to be too provocative. Alice managed to make her look sexy and feminine, without making her uncomfortable. Now to keep my hands off of her until we were back at my place.

I walked over to her and wasted no time in kissing her senseless, much to Alice's annoyance. "You look so beautiful tonight, you ready to go?"

"Sure am, handsome."

She took my hand and we headed out to my car. "I know you never see it, but I couldn't put us at the mercy of mass transit tonight."

"I'm a little afraid of what you planned." Bella confided and I laughed as I opened the door for her.

"Nothing too scary, just dinner and dancing," I told her, not letting her know where this was happening.

"Somehow, I don't think it is that simple."

I didn't respond, I just closed the door and walked around to get in, driving towards the restaurant. Bella's hand rested on the center console, so I reached over to take it, squeezing it as I wove through the streets. The restaurant came into view and Bella smiled, so I knew I'd made a good choice. We walked inside and the hostess led us back to the trellis covered outdoor area. There were vines and twinkling lights woven above us as we sat down on the loveseat, a coffee table in front of us for the food when it came.

"I can't believe you brought me to Twilight, I've always wanted to come here." Bella blushed as she looked over the menu.

"Why didn't you?" I asked and immediately saw Bella's eye roll.

"This is a date spot, all the meals on the menu have some kind of touted aphrodisiac in them, I can't imagine coming here with Rose or Angela. Alice raves about the food though."

"Well, I don't think we need the help, but I will be interested in seeing if there is something that can increase our sex drive, because I could take you at any moment." Her eyes bulged at the words I whispered to her.

We looked at the menu for another minute or two before deciding on our meal. The place made everything in portions for two, so it was lucky that Bella and I could easily agree on our meal. As soon as we sat down our menus, a bubbly little woman in her late-20's came over to us.

"Hello, my name is Makenna and I'll be your server tonight. Are you ready to order?"

I nodded, taking Bella's hand as I spoke, "We'll have the blush wine to drink tonight, and for our appetizer we'll have the oysters, followed by the honey and ginger chicken with asparagus, and then the fruit fondue for dessert."

"All excellent choices, now if I could just see some ID, I'll be happy to bring you your wine."

We showed Makenna our ID's and she smiled before going to get our wine. I knew that the bottle wouldn't be enough to hamper our night, but I wanted Bella to really enjoy herself. It had been too long since someone had taken her out.

The appetizer was out pretty quick and the only thing sexier than Bella, was watching her eat the oysters. I loved watching the little faces she made and thought about how beautiful she was and how if there was ever anyone I could learn the mysterious vulnerability behind Christina's façade from, it was Bella. Her complexity knew no bounds.

Our dinner arrived and as cheesy as it sounds, we sat there and fed each other. Bella's laugh filled the open space as she watched my reactions to her; her lips closing around the fork, her tongue darting out to catch a bit of the sauce on the corner of her mouth, or mine. I was beginning to wonder if dessert was a good idea.

Luckily, it arrived soon enough and Bella took great pride in her ability to leave just enough chocolate on her lips that I had to kiss it off. The pineapple, strawberries and raspberries never stood a chance and with the check paid for, including a nice tip for the attentive, yet barely noticeable Makenna, we were off to the other surprise.

Bella watched me as I drove, waiting for us to turn somewhere, so she could figure out where I was taking her out to go dancing, but as we pulled into the garage where I parked my car, she looked at me confused.

"I thought you said something about us going dancing?" She pouted, and I kissed her as we entered the front of my building.

"We are going to dance, just not out in public." We walked into my apartment and Bella blinked as she saw the furniture had been pushed back.

"Edward Cullen, you are too sweet for words."

"No, I'm not," I told her, "I just wasn't willing to have someone tell me that I couldn't put my hands on you like I plan to in public." My hands ran up her back as hers traced my chest. "God, you're so fucking beautiful."

She giggled as I stepped away to hit play on the stereo and then pulled her back to me to slow dance to the classical music that was drifting out of the speakers.

We stood there swaying as our hands travelled across each other's bodies, when Bella tipped up on her toes. "Edward, I need you."

Those were the only words I needed to hear before we were in the bedroom, shedding clothes and testing the cuisine at Twilight.

*TPtT*

Angela was waiting in the prop room when Bella and I got there Monday afternoon. She looked like she was ready to die her hair and move out of state.

"Ang? What's wrong?"

"They're killing me. I can't take all of this back and forth and with techs coming up they're fighting about everything. I'm finally going to be taking the reins of this show and they're too busy having their pissing contest to get me what I need." Angela swiped at her eyes before she continued. "I tried to schedule the paper tech three times before I wrote the date and time that worked best for me on the dry erase board and kicked the garbage can to get their attention. Eric was ready to crap his pants. I told them to show up or they're design wouldn't make it into the performance, because I refused to bend over backwards to the battle of nitwits."

I hugged Angela and swayed side to side. "Angie, can't you talk to your advisor?"

"He was in the damn meeting. I just need to make it through dry tech, because they won't stick around for Sunday's wet tech unless there's a fire or something. Once the people who don't have to be there are gone and Aro is sitting in the audience, I will be better."

"Let us know if we can do anything to help," Bella added, hugging her other side as we sandwiched Angela.

Somehow, by Thursday, I'd done a makeup test that looked good enough to be approved for the show, and Bella and I had finished our hours. The prop rooms looked good and we were both facing a lot more free time for the last part of the semester.

The cigarettes were holding up in rehearsals, so we weren't going to have to break into the mad money just yet, and classes were going by without any problems.

By Friday's rehearsal, Angela was smoking for real, Emmett had declared the set ready for the show and Bella had even managed to hang herself a dozen times without another incident. It was during our fifteen minute break after we finished the run that Jake and I started talking about the important things, the show's official cast parties.

"Okay, so Emmett said he wanted to hold the closing night party, I can take opening night if you want?" Jake asked and I nodded.

"Perfect, we can do Ballet Studio for Friday, because it will be packed that we can sneak in the underagers a little easier, and I'll take Saturday night."

"Weren't you going to ask if I wanted to host one of the parties?" Bella asked.

"Baby, no one wants to pay for the ferry just to get stranded out on the island, but if you want to be the hostess on Saturday, my place is your place." I tried to appease her, but she huffed and went to sit with the totally frazzled Angela.

"Would you guys mind if I torched the set? The theater is surrounded by steel, so it wouldn't destroy the building, but nothing in this room would survive." Angela quipped and Jake picked her up and swung her around like a ragdoll.

"Angela, we'll fuck up anyone who messes with you, just give us names," Jake told her, sitting her down as Aro came in and clapped his hands.

"Who's ready for a speed through?"

*TPtT*

Bella and I had taken full advantage of our day off, forcing Jasper and Alice to help us clean the apartment for the upcoming cast party and then doing a liquor run. By the afternoon, each couple was relegated to our respective bedrooms, only coming out for the pizza when it came.

At nine fifty-five, there was a loud knock at the door. Bella automatically panicked, but I tried to calm her down, even though I was worried about who the hell got up to our door without us letting them in.

I peeked through the peep-hole and then called out to Bella, opening the door for a hysterical Angela. As soon as the cries entered our apartment, Alice and Jasper came rushing out and soon the three girls were in my room.

They didn't come back out, so Jasper and I sat down to wait out the cryfest. But by eleven thirty, Jasper and I went into his room to get some sleep, because it didn't seem like we'd see our girlfriends again before morning.

"Edward?" I felt a gentle hand shaking my shoulder, "Baby, you have to get up."

I opened my eyes to see a fully-clothed Bella standing over me. "What time is it?"

"Eight-thirty, but we're heading in with Ang. I've got a change for you in the bathroom, but we have to leave as soon as possible."

"Can I shower first?" I asked, getting the idea that the answer would be no.

"You could, or we could shower together tonight. We'll be all alone." She smirked and I knew that I could make it another twelve hours without a shower…it wasn't like I hadn't showered yesterday.

I rolled out to bed to have Alice push past me on her way to Jasper and I got a chill thinking that I'd slept on that bed.

"Relax, Alice said they hadn't had sex in there since the last time she changed the sheets. I would have let you shower if you'd been laying on Jazz's jiz all night."

I changed and met the girls in the living room, walking out to catch the bus and start our twelve hour day. We got breakfast on the way in and then Angela started setting up for the day. Eric came in and was promptly sent out to get fruit at the market next door by Angela.

As more people came in, you actually felt the tension mount. By the time Aro and Eleazar were in the theater, it was ridiculous. The morning began and Angela tried to wrangle the personalities.

It became clear that she was still missing some of the cues she would need to call, most of them sound cues, so when we broke for lunch, she vanished with her production book.

The three of us went out for Chinese, but soon Emmett was sitting with us, filling everyone in on yesterday.

"It was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Angie and I are the only students and we're the ones acting like adults. They fought over breaks and whether or not we should run the intermission set change more or not. Every time she tried to get them to quit it, they just yelled over her."

There was a buzz and Bella reached into her pocket. "That was Angela, she's finally getting the sound cues, so I'm bringing her back lunch."

As soon as the food was done, we headed back, but Angela didn't appear until ten minutes before the break ended. She was already done in and we still had eight hours to go. Hopefully she would make it to six when we took our dinner hour.

The squabbling continued through the end of the cue to cue for Ace One, but when Angela tried to break there instead of pushing through and having to stop in the middle of something twenty-five minutes from now all hell broke loose.

"Miss Weber, I think it best if we continue, now setting up for Act Two," Felix, the production manager, and Angela's boss, started to say.

"No," Angela spoke clearly, never raising her voice.

"Excuse me," Felix questioned.

"I said that we're taking a five minute break now, so everyone use the restroom, or smoke, whatever you need to do." Angela eyed him, but he cleared his throat.

"You there," Felix called to Eric, which sent Angela off the rails.

"Felix, unless you're taking over the calling of this show, then you have no direct say over the running of _my_ tech. You're here as my advisor, well at the moment, you're only impeding my ability to do my job." Angela turned to all the faculty where they stood in the back of the audience. "As of yesterday, I took over the running of rehearsals from Aro, so you are all welcome to _observe_, but final decisions are mine. If there is a problem with that, the exit is in the back. Now, everyone take five."

Angela walked out of the theater and after a moment of stunned silence, many of the people who had no need to be there, including Felix, left. The break was fast, but when Angela returned, she got a standing ovation from her crew.

"Way to rock the 'God mic' little lady," Emmett yelled as he spun her around, the first carefree laugh I'd heard her emit in days coming out.

"Okay, enough messing around, let's get back to work."

The remainder of tech went by without incident. The cues had been run and everything was set, we even got in a run of the show with the lights before going home for the night. We were all exhausted, but we finally felt like the show was ours, and in a week all the hard work would be over and the show would come to a close.

As we made it through classes Monday, it seems that the drama that had been following Angela was passed onto Alice as the dress rehearsal put the spotlight on her ability to transform us into the opposite sex. I couldn't help but laugh at Bella's wig, but that was more the fact that she was wearing one at all than a problem with it. My wig however was currently driving me crazy as Alice poked and prodded me.

"Quit it! I need your makeup to be right. Do you have any idea what they'll put me through if you get up there and this looks like shit?"

"Alice, relax. It isn't going to be perfect, but it's going to look great. They can't give you a shoe-string budget and then yell at you for making do with that. Now, I'll stay still so you can finish with my boobs, I have to get my costume on."

That eased the tension and soon, the three of us were standing behind the set, waiting for the lights to dim before Bella got into position. We ran a good part of the first Act, but when we took our break, I saw the costume people huddled up at the top of the seating area.

After a minute or two, Alice came down to talk to us. "Edward, when you change shirts, can you leave on the tank top, the boobs don't look right under the lights, we'll see how it is at the end of the Act, but that's a quick fix."

"Sure, Alice, whatever makes your life easier." I could tell that Charlotte was watching really closely with how she handled these issues, so I was going to make it as easy as possible.

From there, we finished the rest of the Act, and thankfully, they said that the lighting worked in our favor during the sex scene, masking what was there enough that you couldn't tell for the short time you saw it.

Act Two went much better and we were officially free for the night with a final note for me. It was time for me to shave my legs.

Bella and I got home and she packed a small bag for tomorrow, so I could shave in the dressing room showers before rehearsal. We were officially a week away from being done with this show, and as much as I was ready to have it over, I was feeling a little bit sad about it as well.

*TPtT*

The second dress sped by, all the issues having been worked out and my legs survived the hair removal. The final dress was open to the department, and was usually when all the actors saw the show, because it was free.

That fact had me worried. I knew there were people who would never let Bella and I live this down, I just hoped they directed their comments more at me. I was still thinking about it when Alice was sitting in front of me fixing my chest. She had just finished the last little touch when a pair of hands wrapped around my neck.

"Stop worrying about what they're going to think, you're going to be amazing tonight." Bella's lips danced around my ear as she threaded her fingers through my hair. "When we get home tonight, I'm going to ride you so hard that no one will ever be able to doubt how manly you are."

"Thank you, sexy. That was exactly what I needed to hear. Now, you go draw on some stubble and I'm going to tart myself up."

"That's the spirit," Jake yelled, looking freshly fucked.

"Oh my, God…Leah better not have fucked the cocky out of you, or all kick her ass." Bella scowled at him, but I couldn't stop laughing.

"Baby, I think she may have made him even cockier, if it's possible." Jake flipped me off and I blew him a kiss, ending the discussion as we each got ready for the 'places' call.

Finally, we were all behind the set, waiting for the lights to fade and our backstage light to go on, signaling that it was time for Bella's entrance.

The time from the moment that she walked out, until I heard the thud of the hook giving way under her weight had me tense as anything, but it was soon over and Jake was stepping out onstage, introducing me a minute later.

From the moment I walked through the door, something that only actors could understand happened. Everything was a blur as we went through our first official performance. It was second nature and all the second guessing and worrying was over, the three of us just were our characters.

We were riding the high from the final scene as we stepped onto the stage for our bows that something really cool happened. We got a standing ovation. From everyone.

All the bullshit, and backstabbing aside, we did a great job and they were choosing to take notice of that. The faculty came over and congratulated us and so did our classmates. It was a surreal thing, but when they finally filed out, Aro was waiting for us in one of the aisles.

"No one could have done that better; I'll see you after the opening."

The process of clearing up the stage took less time than we took to get cleaned up and ready to leave, so Angela was waiting outside the dressing room to lock up.

"That was a really great performance, guys. This is going to be an amazing run."

"Thanks Ang. It wouldn't be anything without you," I hugged her into my side before we went our separate ways for the night. Bella made good on her promise and we fell asleep, tangled up around each other, I felt the worry about the weekend fade away.

Classes went well, but my biggest concern was outdoing another tradition Bella and I had. On our opening nights, Bella always made me brownies from scratch, and I got her a very specific bouquet, lilies, bells of Ireland, and pink carnations. But this time, I wanted to give her something more, but I didn't want to be contrived. It was this thought that had me staring at the florist while she went over various options for bouquets she could make. I knew better than roses, but really didn't have a clue what it should be. Then I saw a potted orchid on one of the shelves and asked the woman to take it down.

It was perfect.

I paid for them both and then rushed to the theater, the sonnet that I'd chosen already open on my phone and waiting for me to write it in the card that was tucked into my script. Charlie always sent her flowers for closing night if he wasn't coming, a fete that I wished I'd pulled off with my parents, so I took opening night, that way she started and ended her run knowing that she was cared for.

I set her bouquet down and the orchid beside it as I started to write her card.

_Not marble, nor the gilded monuments_

_Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;_

_But you shall shine more bright in these contents_

_Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time._

_When wasteful war shall statues overturn,_

_And broils root out the work of masonry,_

_Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn_

_The living record of your memory._

_'Gainst death and all oblivious enmity_

_Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,_

_Even in the eyes of all posterity_

_That wear this world out to the ending doom._

_So, till the judgment that yourself arise,_

_You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes._

Moving to the right side of the card, I wrote my personal note.

_Bella,_

_I'll never know how it escaped me for all this time how much I loved you, but I will never be that big of a fool again. You're so important in my life and I hope that this is only the beginning of a very long and happy road for us both personally and professionally. There is no one I would rather break convention with than you._

_ All My Love,_

_ Edward Cullen_

I sealed the envelope and moved to the corner where Alice did my makeup, knowing she would be here any minute.

I was twenty minutes into my makeup when Bella came in, setting down the brownies at my normal makeup station and then gasped as she saw her flowers. She tore open the card and ran over, swatting Alice away as she sat on my lap and leaned over my makeup as she kissed me hard on the lips. "That was so thoughtful, Edward. I love you, too."

I got in one good kiss before Alice started pulling Bella off my lap and telling her to get ready for Alice to help her wrap her boobs. It was another twenty minutes before Jake showed up and Bella just giggled as he did his makeup, the 30 minutes call coming over the two-way baby monitors.

When everyone was ready, we got up for an energy circle, and then headed off for our places. There was a palpable difference with a real audience, and it pumped us each up further. After a final peck on the cheek, Bella walked out to get into position.

The reactions were great, the audience was right there, something you always want on opening night. The night flew by again, with the exception of the two sex scenes, which was important because I could feel each beat of those moments as they happened, concluding with my run for the fire escape. As the music played and the lights faded, there was a roar in the small space as the audience applauded us. We went out into the theater to take our bows.

It took forty minutes for the stage to be reset for tomorrow and for us to get out of our costumes and back into our street clothes. Eric popped his head in and told us to come into the theater.

The three of us walked in to see Aro passing around plastic cups to our designers and crew, while Angela popped two bottles of champagne. The glasses were filled and Aro raised his glass, signaling a toast.

"This show was a chance, but you all took the leap of faith with me, and for that, I thank you. I could carry one, but I would instead like to offer you each the highest compliment that I could give you. I would hire you all for pay. To all of you, for dealing with my crazy and making this a show to remember."

We all laughed and drank the champagne before walking to Emmett and Jake's place. It was halfway between my place and the school, so we didn't have to take the bus, which made everything easier.

For the first half hour or so it was just the people from our show, but soon half the department was at the apartment and between the music and the booze, it was a great party.

I was sticking close to Bella tonight and it was in the moment that I went to get us some more beer that things got interesting. The cheers were the first thing that registered to me, so when I made my way through the crowd to see Angela and Leah making out, I was pretty shocked. I'd known Angela was bi-sexual since we met, but Leah and Jake had been together constantly lately. I found him and nudged his arm as he whistled and cat-called louder than anyone.

"It doesn't bug you that Angie's macking on your girl?" I asked and he just shook his head and gestured back to the girls.

"Doesn't bother me a bit, how about you?"

I looked back at his words to see Bella making out with Angela, who was palming her boob. I was instantly hard and damn near ready to throw her over my shoulder and tell everyone goodnight, but she was enjoying herself way too much to ruin her night.

So I cut in after they finished the mini make out session and we went back to dancing. Later that night, when a bunch of the crowd had thinned out, Emmett was playing the social butterfly so Jake and I grabbed our girls and headed for his bedroom.

The four of us were nursing what would probably be our last drinks when Leah started talking. "When you guys kiss at the end of the show…that's damn hot."

"Are you serious?" Jake asked.

"Did you think it was hot when we were kissing Angela?" Bella asked and I jumped in to voice my opinion.

"Hell yes, it was."

Leah laughed and turned to Bella, "You know, I thought it would be too much pretty for me, but there's something so…sensual about it."

"I know," Bella agreed, "you have no idea how hard it was to sit in rehearsal and watch them work on that scene. The sex is so vile, but that kiss, before Davis thinks about it too much…I can't describe it."

I nudged Jake, "Want to guarantee we get laid tonight?"

"As long as you take her home, because I don't need to reach out in the middle of the night and feel you." I laughed and then gripped Jake's face, kissing him hard.

The gasps were all we heard as we made a big drunken show of it and then I stood up, taking Bella's hand as she said good-bye, still giggling when we made it down to the street.

"You just kissed a guy because you knew that I liked it, you're too damn good to me," she spoke into my side as we started walking towards my apartment.

"You inspired the performance for the show, so why not give you a private viewing," I told her, but she stopped me.

"What do you mean?"

"When I was trying to kiss Jake, I didn't know how to do it. So I thought about how you kiss me when you're being a little cautious. You move slowly, like you're giving me a chance to say no, which I would never do. So I kissed him that way, and it worked."

She stood there for a moment and I wondered if I'd said something wrong, then she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me with everything she had. "That is so fucking sweet. You pay attention to how I kiss you enough to use it for Christina. I don't know which emotion should be more dominant, feeling horny or touched."

I smirked, my mind going into the gutter immediately, "How about I touch you and then we can take care of how horny you are?"

"Fine, but first, I'm making you take something for the hangover you'll feel in the morning." Bella linked our fingers and we walked back to the apartment.

*TPtT*

Friday was a full day, classes, the second show and then a night at Ballet Studio. We didn't stay long, because Saturday is a double show day, and as I climbed into the shower I hoped it would go well.

Double show days were notorious because we'd go through hell and then get so drunk that we'd stumble through the morning before somehow pulling it together to do the closing show.

I got ready while Bella showered, grumbling at having to shave again this morning, but I'd be fine now and I could put it behind me.

The morning prep was slow moving today and as we got into position, I knew there was something different about today's audience. The show moved as it normally does, but there was no audience reaction. There was even an older couple that got up and left part way through Act One. By the end of the show, we were all a little dejected, but Emmett tried to cheer us up.

"Guy's they're old, they're gonna die soon, and being near death makes you quiet."

We all laughed and soon they headed out to grab dinner and hang out, but I had other plans.

"Bella, wait." I pulled her back to me and kissed her. We moved quickly to the makeup stations and I picked her up, moving to pull my clothes off quickly. Bella started to unbutton her shirt as I kicked off my pants and boxers, suddenly realizing the door had to be locked.

"Stop undressing yourself," I told her as I turned the knob, giving us our privacy.

"Why, did you want to do that?" she joked.

"Damn straight," I told her as I unbuttoned her pants and pulled them off, her shirt buttons falling open quickly as she perched herself back on the counter.

I moved to her breasts, knowing that having to wrap them made them extra sensitive and her mews let me know I was doing something very right.

"Oh God…Edward…I need you _in_ me," she begged and I grabbed a condom and thrust into her, needing to be hard and fast after the suck-fest that was our matinee.

Bella's nails dug into my back as I kept moving with her, feeling her respond to me in a way that no one else ever had. She started panting and I could feel her orgasm approaching so I sped up, wanting to cum with her.

A minute or two later she whispered my name as she came all around me, not wanting anyone who may be wandering the hall to hear us and I was right there with her.

We showered in the dressing room and changed so that we'd be decent for when people started coming back for the evening show. Bella insisted on making the dinner run, so I went into the theater to stretch.

I was surprised when Angela came out a minute or two later, but as she sat down next to me, I knew something was up.

"What happened now, Ang? Who's ass do I need to kick?"

"Edward," she said, shaking her head, "I was fighting with whether or not I should have said anything, but here it goes." She took another deep breath and blurted it out, "If you're going to have sex with Bella, make sure no one can hear or see it. She'll be embarrassed if someone catches you."

"What are you talking about, we were careful?" I asked.

"The baby monitor is a two-way, so you can flip a switch and be either the transmitter or the receiver. Yours was transmitting this morning. I heard the beginning of it when I came to lock up the booth and shut it off before I heard anything really, but these walls have ears. Remember that."

"Thank you," I told her, annoyed that I hadn't been careful with Bella like I thought I had been.

The photo call wasn't even on my radar, so when Alice showed up well before our normal prep time, I realized how oblivious I'd been to our schedule this run.

It wasn't that long because Aro knew the shots he wanted, and we were quickly back in the dressing room. The evening show was a thousand times better than the morning show and we celebrated with the largest party to date at my place.

Bella was glued to my lips and lap all night and I couldn't have been happier. We were twenty-four hours away from the show being over and what I needed right now was to have her with me.

A bunch of people were crashing at the apartment, which meant some doubling up, but with Angela, Leah and Jake in my room, it was a blast. Angela insisted on using the air mattress and Jake and I enforced a rule that the girls had to be in the center so nothing weird happened.

It was a pretty hazy night, but when I woke up literally in between Bella's parted legs, Jake and Leah a knot on the other side of the bed, I couldn't begrudge the hangover, until I moved.

We moved like five very militant people grabbing our things and opting to shower at school simply because there were two stalls per bathroom. The lights at McDonald's were ungodly, but the coffee made up for it. Angela sent a text and soon we were in the dressing room, Leah letting everyone go ahead of her because she was just a member of the audience today.

People came in looking much like we did and I was wondering how they did it. I usually didn't party this hard before the matinees, but my inner rebel decided to live a little while I was still in college, and all my plans for how to deal with the parties went out the window.

The hot water and strong coffee helped a little, but when Eric walked in with two Boxes of Joe from Dunkin Donuts, I almost kissed him. Sweeping and mopping while we tried to elevate ourselves to human again, Angela shook her head.

"If that boy keeps it up, I may just screw him tonight."

"What?" Jake and I both yelled, instantly regretting it as our girlfriends hit us.

"He's been asking me out since we got into techs and I kept telling him that 'we'd see,' but the show is closing, so I might actually go for it."

"Why does that matter, they're fucking?" Jake pointed to us and I swatted at his hand.

"Because they're equals, I'm technically his boss, I can't do anything inappropriate until he's no longer under me."

"Yeah Jake, she can't be under him until he's out from under her," Leah giggled and we all groaned at the joke.

Angela stood up, cracking her back before she refilled her glass. "Okay kids, I have to get to work, ninety minutes until places."

"Thank you, places," we all whispered and started getting ready.

The next hour was just like every other show, the complex makeup and masking coming before the regular prep. But today everyone gave out their gifts to each other. I gave a new notebook, to replace the one we'd filled with notes on this show, Bella gave glasses with the show info engraved on it, and Jake gave a bottle of our favorite liquor and a pound of coffee. Angela came in with her handmade cards and flowers, and then ten minutes later returned with Bella's bouquet delivery from Charlie.

In addition to our thirty minute call, Ang told us that my parents had arrived and were first in line to get their seats. I was really nervous and also excited that they were here to see it, knowing what they were in for.

My dad had made reservations for dinner, as always, so the four of us were going to be leaving here for a real meal before the last cast party.

As I slipped my wig on for the last time, I felt a little sad, but soon enough I was in the wing behind the stage, waiting for everything to start up.

My mom's reactions were pretty easy to pick out; her gasp when Bella almost hung herself, and again when she saw me in the red dress the first time. Our audience for the closing show was one of the best I've had at this school, so I was happy with leaving this character on the stage when I took my final bow.

The process of cleaning up the dressing room and getting ourselves ready to go out took a little longer today, but when we finally emerged, my parents were right there.

"Bella, Edward," my mom called, "that was so amazing. Really touching."

"Thank you, Esme, I'm glad you enjoyed it," Bella blushed under my mom's praise.

"And you two, what a wonderful surprise," she added, "I always hoped my son would see the wonderful young woman right under his nose."

"Esme," my dad interjected, "I think it's about time we headed off to the restaurant. They still have a party to get to tonight."

"Yeah Mom, and if we let you keep going you'll have the wedding planned and our first-born named."

Bella elbowed me, but my mother just smiled. "Fair enough, let's go out and celebrate my two favorite thespians!"

As we walked to the car so my dad could drive us to the apartment to drop off our things I thought about the things my mother had said and all the things I'd thought about this show since starting it. It's been a wild ride, but this play's the thing that finally brought me and Bella together. And with her is the only place I want to be.

**E/N: *Dave Chapelle's voice* "'Bye, thanks for coming to San Francisco, come back in April when we have a sale on Birkenstocks,' then you get to the other side of the bridge, 'Welcome to Oakland, Bitch!' click, click."**

**Okay, seriously, thank you so much! Now the fun times begin, this year is going to be better than the last two...we'll say good bye to our old friends and hello to some new ones ;) Let me know what you thought about the end of Dragward!**


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